Tumu-Ghana, (UWR), Oct. 25, GNA – The management of the Kanton Senior High School has appealed to the government to help solve the myriad of challenges facing the school.
The management said the school needed a good pick-up vehicle to replace the one currently in use, which was received from the government over a decade ago and additional classrooms.
Mr Mohammed Luriwie Kanton, the Headmaster of the school, who made the appeal during the 60th anniversary celebration at the weekend, said: “There are 43 classrooms but there are 51 classes for all five programmes leaving a deficit of eight classrooms.”
He said the management was compelled to convert other structures into classrooms, a situation he described as not ideal for effective teaching and learning.
Other challenges included inadequate accommodation for students, particularly girls, inadequate furniture, library, dining hall, and the Science Laboratory, among others.
Mr Kanton said due to the inadequate furniture at the school, the students were not seated conformably enough for effective teaching and learning as well as other school activities.
Also, the completed science laboratory/library was yet to be furnished to enable the school to put it to effective use.
He noted that the school’s dining hall had been under construction for over a decade now and the students had to take meals in the uncompleted structure with its attendant consequences.
“I humbly use this opportunity to call on you to intervene to ensure the completion of this project”, the headmaster appealed.
He said the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Laboratory had very few computers and students offering ICT had to struggle over the few computers available, while those offering Clerical Office duties had to also struggle over the few typewriters in the typing pool.
“This school was one of the Dr. Kwame Nkrumah trust schools built across the country in the early 1960s as a teacher training college and named after the then ruler of the Sissala State-Wokorei Kanton II as a result of his invaluable contribution to the introduction of education in the area and hence was called Kanton Training College (Great KANCO)”, Mr Kanton said.
He added that the College of Education was substituted for Secondary Education in 1972, following the full implementation of the 1961 Education Act (Act 87).
The school has since produced several scholars, politicians, and businessmen some of whom are contributing to nation building.
The school currently has a total student population of 1,668, comprising 744 girls and 925 boys with a staff population of 131 – 91 teaching and 40 non-teaching staff.
Speaking on the theme: “Sustained Educational Excellence Through Resilience, a Call on all Duty Bearers”, Mr Razak Abdul-Korah, the Upper West Regional Director of Education, said, “Academic excellence goes beyond being able to rattle English with much rapidity and fluency to one’s ability to cope with changing the world, solve problems on one’s own and be well equipped for the future.”
Kuoro Osman Nanpka Dewia III, the paramount chief of the Gandawii Traditional Council, who chaired the function called for a uniform award for the secondary schools in the Sissala area to stimulate competition among the students.
Kuoro Dewia also appealed to the government to pay attention to the Sissala roads to facilitate development of the area.
