Minister visits scene of collapsed school block
The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, yesterday visited the school where a collapsing wall killed six pupils and re-echoed the government's commitment to accelerate efforts at improving basic school infrastructure.
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Dr Opoku Prempeh was accompanied by the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Jacob Kor, and other officials of the service.
He said it was unfortunate that a dilapidated school building could be left to cause such disaster, and stressed that the government would work to ensure that all ongoing school projects were completed to give pupils conducive and decent places of learning.
Last Tuesday morning the falling wall of a dilapidated school block of the Breman Jamra Methodist Basic School killed six of its kindergarten pupils, four of them on the spot.
Information gathered at the school indicated that the block had developed dangerous cracks for more than two years.
Four other pupils are receiving treatment at the Breman Asikuma Catholic Hospital.
Efforts made
Efforts by the school to get the education authorities to provide a new facility had yielded some results.
A new facility for the kindergarten and another to replace the old six-classroom block were both under construction but were at the foundation stages.
Work, according to school authorities and members of the community, had been very slow.
The community and the school authorities met to work out a plan to rehabilitate the building, but that had not materialised before the collapse of the wall.
Dr Opoku Prempeh said the government attached great importance to education and would not relent in its efforts to ensure a congenial environment for academic work for all.
Before visiting the scene of the incident, the minister called on the chief of the community, Nana Kwaw Fosu, and pledged the government’s support for the bereaved families and the injured.
Nana Fosu called for more effective collaboration between the educational authorities, institutions and the community to help avert some of these disasters.
Mr Kofi Ayensu, who lost his six-year old daughter in the disaster, said he was devastated but prayed that such accidents would not happen again.
Dr Opoku Prempeh later visited the injured at the hospital and pledged the government’s support for their upkeep.
Meanwhile the youth of the community have demolished the remaining portions of the block.