Pupils of the Azorebisi Junior High School in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region continue to learn under trees due to lack of a classroom block.
The 55 pupils and their tutors take their lessons under trees despite the heat produced by the changing climate and are compelled to close anytime it is threatening to rain.
In 2020, the pupils and teachers thought they had seen a sigh of relief when a sod was cut for construction of a three-unit classroom block for the school as part of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) under the auspices of the then Ministry of Special Development Initiatives.
However, after the construction of the foundation, work on the project stalled, compelling the pupils and teachers at the school to continue to learn under distress conditions and particularly under trees.
Mr Elias Ayinbila Apasiya, Assemblyman for Azorebisi Electoral Area told the GNA that the community was disappointed that the government started the construction of the Junior High School and abandoned it at foundation level for close to five years now.
“This is an emergency situation because the rains are in and they don’t have a place to sit, so we appeal to the relevant authorities to step in and look into the contract so that the contractor can return to site,” he appealed.
He said the situation had contributed to low enrollment of students as parents preferred to withdraw their children to better endowed schools.
Apart from that, the block housing the primary pupil of the school is also in a dilapidated state posing danger to schoolchildren and their teachers.
He therefore appealed to the government and other organisations to come to the aid of the school by constructing a classroom block for the school to help improve teaching and learning.
Apart from cracked walls and floors, broken windows and doors and rotten wood, three classrooms of the block housing class four, five and six have also been ripped off by windstorm for close to two years without rehabilitation.
The situation had not only exposed the pupils and their teachers to health hazards but had also affected teaching and learning and if nothing is done to address the challenge, the situation could get worse when the rainy season sets in.
Mr Rex Asanga, the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, told the GNA that the project was part of projects taken over by the Northern Development Authority (NDA), however, there was no funding currently to complete them.
He said the Assembly had been in contact with the leadership of the NDA particularly about the Azorebisi JHS and two other Community based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds, adding “they have assured me that when they get funding, they will prioritise these projects”.
GNA
FAA/KOA/AD
14 May 2024
