Hohoe Presby School appeals for support
About 400 students in the Hohoe Presbyterian Cluster of Schools study in makeshift structures. This is because the permanent school building, which was destroyed in a severe rainstorm, on March 31, 2010, had not been reconstructed.
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There were no casualty because the students had closed and gone home, but they lost almost all their teaching aid, including books in the process.
To enhance normal academic work in the school, the school authorities have appealed for assistance to house the school children.
Taking the Daily Graphic round the makeshift structure, the Headmaster of the school, Mr Mawufemor Buo, said the problem had caused a major disruption in normal educational activities.
He said the neglect of the school which was absorbed into the public system in 1996, was causing a gradual decline in their intake population and also affected their performance at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Mr Buo said the school, which comes out with good results, having recorded 100 per cent last year, may not be able to repeat the same feat if nothing was done immediately to help the school.
All the classes are held in makeshift structures without concrete floors and proper ventilation, while the resident pastor's garage had been converted for use by the primary one pupils.
Mr Buo said the heat that emanates during the normal days and disruptions during the rainy season, do not augur well for teaching and learning. "We are at the mercy of the weather. When the sun is too high, you see the students fanning themselves with their books which does not augur well, leading to low concentration and during the rainy season, because the floor is bare, ants and other crawling inserts invade the classrooms", he said.
What is worse he said was that the congestion in the makeshift structures makes it impossible for teachers to have contact with them during lessons on the dusty floor.
The headmaster said although the government had donated 24 RLG laptops to the school, there was no classroom block for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory to allow the students and pupils to make use of them.
According to a student of the school, the situation does not provide an enabling environment for quality teaching and adequate motivation for their teachers; and it also does not give a conducive atmosphere for students to learn.
