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Ningo SHS dining hall destroyed

Academic work and other school activities at the Ningo Senior High School (SHS) at Prampram in the Dangme East District in the Greater Accra Region have been seriously affected after a 300-seater multipurpose dining hall being constructed by the parent-teacher association (PTA) of the school, was destroyed by a rainstorm.

Multipurpose dining hall

Even though finishing touches are yet to be put to it, the hall was being used as the dining hall, assembly hall, place of worship on Sundays and also as science classrooms for three classes. More importantly, the school is currently an examination centre for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in the Ningo Prampram District and about 300 candidates from two schools — Prampram SHS and the Global SHS — in addition to the host school, are expected to write their WASSCE examination, which begins next week, at the centre .The three science classrooms which used to be in the hall have currently been relocated and operated under trees on the school compound, while dining, assembly, worship and other activities that used to take place in the hall are now done in the open.

These are challenges the headmaster of the school, Mr Edmund Botchway, says hamper academic work.

He said anytime it threatened to rain, classes came to an abrupt end and the students had to run for cover.

Official visit

Mr Botchwey explained that even though he had contacted the District Assembly and the Board and PTA of the school concerning the incident, no one had visited the school to ascertain the extent of damage.

He said a follow-up this week revealed that the assembly had instructed the district engineer to visit the school to find out the damage and what could be done.

Alternative arrangements

Mr Botchwey said while waiting for help to restore academic work in the school to normalcy,  an alternative arrangement had been made, explaining that, for instance, 12 classrooms for forms one and two had been earmarked to be used for the WASSCE and from now till the WASSCE would be over, no student was expected to enter those classrooms.

As an alternative arrangement, the students in forms one and two would be writing their end-of-second term examination in turns, starting next week. The form one students will write in the morning and leave the classrooms for the form two students to also write theirs in the afternoon.

Mr Botchwey has, therefore, appealed to the district assembly and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to help find an urgent solution to the current situation.

Background

Giving the background to the destruction,  he said at dawn on March 9, a severe rainstorm that swept through the area destroyed a major part of the roof of the hall, leaving parts hanging dangerously and making the hall unsafe for habitation.

He said the following day, he wrote letters to the assembly, the PTA and board of the school but was yet to receive any favourable response.

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