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Ms Amma Adu-Larbi and other dignitaries

Oti Boateng SHS needs to be relocated — Headmistress

The Headmistress of the Oti Boateng Senior High School (OBOSS) in the Koforidua Municipality in the Eastern Region, Ms Amma Adu-Larbi, has suggested that the school be relocated.

According to her, the school, currently located on a 5.53 acre land, made infrastructural development a very difficult task, hence the need to relocate to a more spacious area.

Alternatively, she said the present facilities of the school could be rebuilt into high rise buildings, if a relocation was impossible.

Ms Adu-Larbi was speaking at the 7th Speech and Prize-giving Day of the school in Koforidua.

She said the infrastructural challenges in the school had been compounded with a devastating fire outbreak in January this year which destroyed two boys’ dormitories, the matron’s office and a food store, as well as two poly tanks serving the school kitchen.

Weak buildings

She said there was, therefore, the urgent need to pull down the weak buildings where the destroyed dormitories were located and also rebuild the whole kitchen and dining hall to safeguard the entire school community.

During the fire outbreak, 146 students lost all their school items and personal effects. Although the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and some public-spirited organisations have supported the school with some relief items, the school still needs more support.

Other challenges

Ms Adu-Larbi said the school’s dining hall was an apology of itself with inadequate facilities and low and poor ventilation, and as a result, students took their meals in shifts, a situation which impacted negatively on academic work and the operations of the kitchen staff.

She said all the school’s vehicles were old with the ISUZU pick-up, which was donated to the school during its inception 25 years ago, now grounded, while the TATA bus and the GETFUND bus currently in use, broke down frequently.

Despite those problems, she said the school was doing well academically and added that “out of 577 candidates that the school presented for the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) last year, 369 of them passed in all the eight subjects with the rest performing creditably and we are not resting on our oars as we are determined to see improvement in all subjects.”

Appreciation

 Ms Adu-Larbi expressed gratitude to all stakeholders who had been supporting the school in its quest to achieve greatness.

The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Ms Mavis Ama Frimpong, enumerated a number of educational projects being undertaken by the government in the region and said the government was committed to the improvement of education and assured the management of the school of its share of the national cake.

She commended the founders of the school, particularly the Paramount Chief of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Professor Oti Boateng, for his foresight in the establishment of the school.

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