Achimota School threatened by activities of encroachers
Achimota School, one of Ghana’s oldest secondary schools, is plagued with numerous challenges that hamper teaching and learning in the school.
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The Headmistress, Mrs Beatrice Tsotso Adom, made this known during the school’s 86th Speech and Prize-giving Day in Accra over the weekend.
Mrs Adom, who is also an old student (Akora) of the school, noted that over the years the student population had outgrown the facilities in the school.
That, according to her, was worrying and challenging, since the school was unable to admit many students any longer.
She said during entertainment programmes, students had to attend in three batches — morning, afternoon and evening.
“Students sit outside the school chapel at the mercy of the sun, wind and rain during assembly and worship programmes,” she added.
Mrs Adom, therefore, made a passionate appeal to the government, stakeholders in education and philanthropists to go to the aid of the school, adding, “Achimota School has a lot of land space to accommodate any form of expansion to cater for the growing needs of children who need education.”
The Akora stated that the school was undergoing many security challenges and recounted an incident in which thieves raided the Western Dining Hall of the school, adding that during the latter part of last term, a teacher returned to his bungalow after classes only to find out that thieves had made away with all his belongings.
She further observed that the school compound had been overtaken and encroached upon by mentally retarded persons who usually posed a threat to the residents of the school.
Mrs Adom also disclosed that the problem of sewage still persisted, causing bad odour to emanate from the sewages.
Pressure from high-profile personalities
Every year, Mrs Adom said, she experienced distress calls from high-profile personalities and politicians who called on her to admit students who had not been selected by the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System into the school.
She, therefore, called on such individuals to desist from the practice, adding, “I do not control the system and so I cannot do anything about it.”
Advise to parents, students and teachers
Speaking on the theme, “Rights with Responsibilities: The student, the parent and the teacher”, the Special Guest of Honour, Dr Mrs Henrietta Asare, charged teachers, parents and students to be responsible.
Dr Asare implored both parents and teachers to play their cards well, since they were stakeholders as far as the education of children was concerned.
She further charged teachers to be role models to students, saying, “The best compliment a teacher can receive is when a student says, ‘Sir/Madam, I want to be like you in future’.”
