Ogome Anglican schools in mess
The Ogome Anglican Basic Schools in Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Municipality has held its first open day with an urgent call on all stakeholders to step in to save the school from the present mess in which it finds itself.
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The Headmistress of the school, Mrs Eugenia Dey, made the appeal in her address at the function in Somanya.
The occasion was on the theme: “Quality Education: The Role of Stakeholders.”
The Ogome Anglican School was established in 1939 as a primary school. In 1987, the Anglican Middle School and a Junior High School were added.
Support
Mrs Dey thanked the Parent–Teacher association (PTA), the School Management Committee (SMC) and the Local Manager of the Anglican schools in the municipality for their assistance and support to the school.
Challenges
The headmistress said the community refuse dump located on the school compound was seriously creating health problems for both pupils and teachers.
She explained that the stench and flies from the refuse dump prevented most pupils and teachers from eating on the compound.
She added that mentally challenged people were always loitering on the school compound because of the refuse dump from which they collected their food and that posed a great threat to both pupils and teachers.
Primary building
She said the primary school building had no doors and windows, which compelled pupils to convey their teaching and learning materials before, during and after instructional hours to the junior high school block for safety.
She explained that in the course of carting such materials, some of them got torn, misplaced and others totally destroyed or missing. She added that the junior high school classrooms were seriously crying for renovation as the floors were full of potholes while the walls had deep cracks.
Mrs Dey said she had no office and there was no staff common room for teachers. The teachers, she said, always sat under trees for their daily activities, while the headmistress used the veranda as her office.
She appealed to the municipal assembly to come to the aid of the school. She also made a passionate appeal to the Environmental Health Department of the assembly to, as a matter of urgency, relocate the refuse dump to a more appropriate place to avoid an outbreak of communicable diseases in the school.
The Yilo Krobo Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Andrews Sodah, assured the school that the assembly had budgeted for the repairs and renovation works in the school for the pupils to have the best of education, which is a priority of the assembly.
He, however, registered his displeasure against community members who broke the doors and windows of the school for immoral activities. He warned that the assembly would not spare any community member who would be arrested for damaging the school’s property.
He urged parents to take a keen interest in the development of their children to prevent them from becoming deviants and social misfits to society in future.
“I entreat all parents of the Ogome community to give their children quality upbringing at home so as not to have deviants and social misfits in our community,” Mr Sodah stressed.