Challenges hinder performance of Wa Methodist School for the Blind
The Wa Methodist School for the Blind is confronted with challenges that have affected academic performance of students and pupils of the school.
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The Headmistress of the school, Miss Grace Amoakoh, mentioned the challenges as inadequate staff accommodation and the destruction of the school’s assembly hall in a fire outbreak in 2011.
Other challenges include the absence of streetlights, bad road network due to erosion, lack of potable water and poor sewage system.
"Work on the construction of three staff bungalows which were awarded on contract by the government since 2011 has been abandoned due to financial constraints, while the ceiling and roofing sheets of the headmistress’s bungalow leak profusely,"she said.
She was speaking at the 10th Education Week celebration service of the Wa Basic Schools, comprising the St Paul, Mangu Methodist and Methodist School for the Blind, at the Rev. Paul Adu Methodist Church in Wa in the Upper West Region last Sunday on the theme: "Holistic Education: The Role of Stakeholders."
Enrolment
Miss Amoakoh said since 1958, the school, with a current enrolment of 220 pupils and students as well as a total of 74 members of staff, including 36 teachers, had enrolled over 5,000 students who have successfully passed out, adding that the school had been one of the best in the Wa Municipality, scoring 100 per cent in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the past years but experiencing a sharp decline recently.
She appealed to the government to ensure regular flow of the government’s grant which she said had not been forthcoming since April 2012, pointing out that some of the pupils were orphans and others staying with single parents and it was difficult for the school to cater for them.
Appeal to GETFund
She appealed to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and all well-meaning groups and individuals to come to their aid and also appealed to the government to provide them with a vehicle to ensure the smooth running of the school since some of the children needed to be transported to hospital almost every day for medication.
She, however, commended stakeholders, especially the government, for the provision of classrooms, teaching and non-teaching staff for their co-operation, and said in spite of the numerous challenges, they were working hard to improve the educational standard of the institution.
The Upper West Regional Manager of the Methodist Education Unit, Very Rev. Isaac Baah Yanney, asked parents to be concerned about the education of their children since that was the best legacy they could leave for the children.
He also advised the children to make use of their time to learn hard, show respect to the elderly in society in order to become responsible citizens, contribute to national development and extend assistance to others.