Kyietanga residents worried about government’s neglect of school in the community

Some residents of Kyietanga, a community in the Wa West District, have expressed worry about the government’s virtual neglect of the basic school in the community.

The school they said was saddled with many challenges including inadequate classrooms, lack of furniture, and teachers’ accommodation, which impeded effective academic activities at the school.

Mr Ibrahim Wakilu, a resident, speaking on behalf of the community told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at the community that: “If you see the children sitting in the classrooms you will pity them.”

He said the children were currently sitting on the floor to learn, a situation he described as disheartening and affecting the education of their children.

Mr Wakilu indicated that the community took steps to pull resources to re-roof some portions of the structure that were ripped-off by a rainstorm some time ago as well as built some classrooms for the JHS, but it collapsed.

Mr Wakilu indicated that the kindergarten (KG) pupils, and the primary and Junior High School (JHS) children were all accommodated in only six classrooms, meant for the primary school children since the JHS and KG had no classroom blocks.

Talking about the issue of furniture at the school, he said: “When you get there, you will see that the teacher is leaning against the window with a wooden board supported by the window to enable him or her place a book on it to write.”

The residents lamented that both the Assembly Member, the Wa West District Assembly and the district education directorate have been notified of the myriad of challenges bedeviling the school, but no steps have been taken by the leadership of the district to remedy the situation.

Already, the deprived state of the community coupled with the lack of electricity discouraged some teachers from accepting posting to that community, which had been a major challenge the community was grappling with, a situation that had been exacerbated by the lack of furniture and accommodation.

“We have been crying to our leaders about the challenges in our school for a very long time now, but they are not minding us. We are also doing what we can do so that the school will not collapse,” Mr Wakilu explained.

The residents appealed for support from the government and benevolent individuals and organisations to enable their children access education.

Source: GNA