E/R: Pupils Risking Their Lives In Perilous Classrooms

Pupils of the Presbyterian Basic School at Koransang, a farming community also in Suhum Municipality in the Eastern region risk all their lives daily to learn. The over hundred year old school mud building was constructed by the community in their quest to make the education accessible to their children which the Ghana Education

Service adopted and posted the teachers to the school. However, the school building which has not seen any major renovation has also terribly deteriorated and has become a death trap. Due to the deplorable condition of the classrooms, younger pupils at the lower primary level have been relocated to a church building to avert

disaster. The poor state of the school building coupled with the tattered roofs force teachers to abruptly end teaching whenever the clouds gather. The classrooms are dusty and terrible for teaching and learning. As a result, teachers are reluctant to accept posting to the school. Parents say they also become so apprehensive

whenever their children leave for school over fears that the classrooms will collapse on them. I am very worried about the condition of the school too. My child always comes home with a dirty uniform and books. I wonder if we even have a government because we don’t see any development.We may not vote in the coming election. I

used to beat my child also for always being dirty buy I noticed it is not his fault. The last time, snake invaded the classroom and they run helter-skelter. Assembly Member for the area Radford Norvor said the school was built in 1869 and has deteriorated hence needs reconstruction however several assurances have failed.

The condition of the school is my biggest headache in my Electoral area. Look at where Teachers and pupils even learn. It seems we are not even part of Ghana. The Sustainable development goal five advocates for all children to have access to quality education but we in Koransang have been denied this. But these Children

will write the same examination with children in Accra, Suhum township, Kumasi but it seems this school has been denied logistics I fear for my colleague teachers. Even a shrine is nicer than this school building. The teachers always complain. A teacher and a pupil nearly lost their lives when a portion of the building collapsed

on them, he said. The Assemblymember appealed to Ghanaians to also remember the school children in the community whenever donating towards the national Cathedral to also come to their aide. I am pleading to government and NGOs to come to our aide. We want to add that all those donating to the national Cathedral construction should also remember these children at

the Koransang to come to our aide to help also build befitting classroom block. The Koransang Presbyterian Basic is also faced with inadequate teaching and also learning materials and the furniture. The Community by extension is deprived of potable water, health facility, and access to good roads for farmers to transport their farm produce to market centers with ease.