Hark Mount Sinai SHS lacks infrastructure
Authorities of the Hark Mount Sinai Senior High School at Akropong-Akuapem in the Eastern Region have complained about the lack of basic infrastructure and other amenities that is adversely hindering effective teaching and learning at the school.
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The school has inadequate dormitory and classroom facilities that cannot meet the needs of the current student population of 1,350, with four female teachers using the basement of the 18-unit three-storey classroom block for accommodation, and part of it converted into dormitories for female students.
In addition to this, the various floors of the twin towers of the Sacred Order of the Silent Brotherhood mission serves as classrooms and offices. The structure, put up by the Silent Brotherhood mission in 1978, is in a dilapidated condition.
Contributions of the mission and PTA
The Headmaster of the school, Mr Samuel Siameh, who stated this at the school’s third speech and prize-giving day last Saturday, said; “The contributions of the mission and our PTA have brought us this far, and the government is yet to construct a building for the school”.
The event, held on the theme: “Infrastructure development — A key to discipline and academic excellence”, was used to honour hard-working students, teaching and non-teaching staff of the school.
The headmaster stated that due to the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), the number of students admitted to the school had been high, overstretching the limited facilities at the school.
“The spaces for the dormitory, classrooms, dining hall and the school kitchen are woefully inadequate. There is no bungalow for the headmaster and the staff, some of who commute daily from Koforidua, Accra and Akropong. This affects contact hours for teaching and learning and effective supervision and monitoring of students”, he said.
According to Mr Siameh, the Home Economics apartment, consisting of two small rooms and a hall, had been converted into accommodation for the senior housemaster.
Appeal for assistance
Mr Siameh appealed to the government and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to assist the school by providing a bungalow for the headmaster, a block of flats for the teachers and dormitory blocks for boys and girls.
“We are also making a special appeal to the Minister of Education to use her good offices to remember Hark Mount Sinai in the distribution of infrastructural needs”, he said.
He stated that the institution had vast stretch of land that could be developed to serve as its new site and called on the government and well-to-do individuals to help address the challenges facing the school.
Academic performance
Mr Siameh expressed happiness over the significant improvement in the academic performance of the students, which he attributed to hard-working teachers of the school.
“For the 2013 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the school presented 688 candidates and I am happy to say that 642 students obtained eight passes, 61 had seven passes and three with six passes”.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Education, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman, stated that the government was about to roll out the first 50 community senior high schools out of the 200 it promised and commended the roles being played by PTAs and churches in the provision of infrastructure for various schools.
