Students worried over leaking exams centre
Students of the Calvary Methodist 1&2 Junior High School (JHS) in Accra have expressed fear and worry over the state of the examination centre in the school which they say can affect them in this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), which takes place this month.
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The centre, which serves as a permanent venue for examinations, as well as other social functions for the school, has parts of the roofs damaged, resulting in severe leakage anytime it rains.
This situation, the candidates are worried, could disturb them in their final examinations if nothing is done before the commencement of the BECE.
They explained that whenever it rained during examination periods, some of them had to share a desk with their friends a situation that led to examination malpractices such as copying.
Students’ complaints to Graphic
Some of the students who could not hide their feelings and frustrations complained to the Daily Graphic that the situation was always worse anytime the entire school gathered at the centre for special events.
“The situation is really bad and we don’t know what to do about it,” one of the students, said and added that something urgent needed to be done.
Another student told the Daily Graphic that, “whenever it rains, we have to run and hide at a particular corner of the room in order to avoid getting wet.”
Assistant Headmaster’s reaction
The assistant Headmaster of the Calvary Methodist 1, Rev. Frederick Kumi, said the roof leakage was not only severe at the examination centre, but also at the Primary One classroom.
According to him, there had been many occasions where the teachers had to suspend classes to carry some of the children on their backs due to the severity of the situation.
Assistance from others
“After appealing to the government and some others for help, it was only the old students association which came in to help,” he said, and added that the situation had persisted after some few months.
He said the Methodist Church of Ghana had also helped to roof the building but the situation had not changed much.
In spite of these, however, Rev. Kumi noted that it was the responsibility of the government to fix the leaking roofs in the school before it got out of hand.
Daily Graphic visit
When the Daily Graphic visited the school last Tuesday during a gathering at the centre, the team observed that part of the room was wet, compelling most of the students to crowd at a particular part of the room.
Even though a bucket had been placed there for the dripping water, it could still not stop the room from getting wet.