Donkorkrom SHS in barter with parents to settle fees
Payment of school fees at the Donkorkrom Agricultural Senior High School (DASHS) at Donkorkrom over the past 15 years has been made easier with the implementation of a barter system.
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Under the system, parents and guardians are not under any compulsion to pay school fees in cash. Rather, the school accepts foodstuffs, firewood and other essentials that it requires in place of cash.
The system allows parents who are unable to get money to pay their children’s fees to provide foodstuffs such as beans, maize, yam, cassava and groundnuts to the amount of the school fees.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Headmaster of DASHS, Mr Robert Osei Forson, said: “We realised that some of the parents have items we need here. So why should we insist that they go and sell those items and bring the money to us, only for us to go back and buy those same items?”
Enrolment
On enrolment, he said it was sad that the school had a low population of about 600, although it was the only SHS in the community.
He said even though the second term of the academic year had started, only 157 fresh students had so far reported, out of the 600 posted to the school under the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
Mr Forson said the school was in a position to absorb more than the 600 posted “because we are endowed with all the requisite facilities”.
He was happy that the school had qualified teachers, adding that all the subjects had teachers handling them.
School facilities
The school has a modern computer laboratory, a science laboratory, with a new one under construction, a one-storey newly completed girls’ dormitory and a two-storey boys’ dormitory, with a new one under construction.
Eight of the 10 masters’ bungalows in the school have been renovated, while two are awaiting renovation.
It also has a demonstration animal husbandry, a vegetable farm and a bee farm to give those majoring in agriculture practical training.
The farms are supposed to equip the students with the requisite knowledge to enable them to start their own farms after school.
Courses offered
The school runs courses in Business, Visual Arts, General Arts, General Science and Agricultural Science. It is also exploring avenues to introduce vocational subjects such as Technical and Home Economics, since most of the students perform fairly below average at the BECE.
School farm
Even though the school bears a name reflecting the main activity in the area — farming — there is nothing special about agriculture in the school.
“We don’t give any special attention to agriculture. It is just like any other course we offer here. Until 2008, the school could only boast a broken down tractor. But thank God in 2009, the then Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, visited the school and on his return to Accra he dispatched a tractor to the school, which we now use to farm,” Mr Forson said.
He was happy that now the school had a maize and a vegetable farm, adding that in 2011, the school farm was able to produce 100 bags of maize, while in 2012 it had 70 bags.
He was hopeful that even though last year conditions were not favourable, “we will still have a significant harvest from our farming activities last year”.
He said in 2010, Mr Ahwoi once again provided the school with a power tiller and a pumping machine.
“The only problem we have with the pumping machine is that we have only one hose, instead of the two. So, as of now, we are unable to use it,” he lamented.
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