SDA/AMA School; A looming danger

The lives of 734 schoolchildren in the SDA/AMA Basic School and JSS located at Nii Boi Town in Accra, are threatened as their school building, which is the only public school in the Okaikoi North Constituency, is on the verge of collapse.
Both ends of the structure housing the primary section are sinking; a development that has caused the middle portion to develop massive cracks. The building is located on a landfill site.

The Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Christopher Babooro, has, therefore, called for the school to be closed down to forestall any danger to the children.

Mr Babooro who accompanied the Deputy Minister in charge of Social Welfare at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP), Ms Florence Appoh, to inspect the school building, said the children were at risk so there was the need for an immediate intervention.

The school was built by the Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church in 1996 and handed over to the government for management. Lack of maintenance over the years, however, has led to its deterioration.

During the visit to the school, it came to light that anytime it rains a pool of water collects behind the primary block. The wall dividing the nursery and kindergarten classrooms has holes big enough for a toddler to squeeze through.

The three-classroom block of the junior secondary section of the school also has big cracks, while the roof of some of the structures leak badly when it rain.

It emerged during the visit that in June 2013, a letter was forwarded to the school from the Health and Environment Department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), raising concern over the state of the school’s structure.

The letter headed, “Notice of Summons” stated that the school was in a dilapidated state and was therefore a “nuisance, dangerous and likely to be injurious to health”.

The letter gave the headteacher of the school, Mr Richard Nsiah, 14 days to abate the nuisance on the premises. “You are hereby required within the time specified above to liaise with your district education officer to rectify the condition to the satisfaction of the AMA health authority”,   it further stated.

Meanwhile, some concerned youth in the Okaikoi North Constituency have asked the ministries of Gender, Education and the local authorities to come out with an action plan to remedy the situation or they will demonstrate to draw the attention of the public to the threat the school building pose to the children.

The youth group led by Mr Johnson Kpemli also threatened to close down the school within a month if nothing was done to forestal the loss of lives, which could result from what he described as an imminent danger.

Mr Kpemli, who heads the Voltarians Development Front of Nii Boi Town, claimed that the group had written several letters to the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the SDA Church and the Member of Parliament for Okaikoi North, Ms Elizabeth Sackey, among others, about the danger the classroom block posed to the lives of the children but it had not received any positive response.

In reaction, Ms Appoh promised to send a report back to the sector minister for the necessary action to be taken. She thus impressed on the youth not to go on their planned demonstration, promising them that the ministry would find a solution to the problem.

The Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) Chairman of the school, Mr Thomas Dumenyo, said the PTA, which walled the school to prevent unscrupulous people from using its premises, could not afford the cost of renovating the whole school structure, since it was cash-strapped.

He also said the PTA, for some time now, had been patching the cracks but the extent of deterioration made it necessary for the building to be renovated.

By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho/Daily Graphic/Ghana

Writer’s email: [email protected]