Facilities at the Bompeh Secondary Technical in the twin-city of Sekondi/Takoradi are in a serious state of deterioration and need immediate attention to create a more enabling environment for teaching and learning in the school.
The school faces a perennial flooding problem, has inadequate classroom blocks and lacks an assembly hall, canteen and accommodation for teachers.
The school was not spared during the recent flooding that occurred in the metropolis. Due to the problem of inadequate classrooms some academic sessions are held under trees..
When the Daily Graphic visited the school some students were under a tree as if they were having a group discussion but to the surprise of this reporter they were actually carrying out normal academic work.
That aside, due to the inadequate facilities some students have their desks on the corridors of the classrooms .
A footpath runs through the school and people crossing over from the Old-Axim Road to the Akroma Plaza,use it, thus distracting the attention of the students.
There is also a huge drain that ends behind the school which contributes to the perennial flooding of the school. At the time of the visit, part of the school compound was still submerged in water.
Despite the problem, the school has adequate academic and supporting staff but many of them are resident outside the metropolis. The teachers have to struggle to school every day for academic work to begin.
This they said overly delayed academic work and the immediate need of the school was identified as staff accommodation, more classroom blocks, completion of the drain and fencing of the school.
The facilities at the school which was built for about 300 students, is currently being used by more than 1,000 students.
The school is also spending a lot of money on the up-keep of the compound; this is because the weed grows faster than expected. The proximity of the school to the coast, makes the paints on the building to erode at a very fast rate.
When contacted, the Headmistress of the school, Mrs Aba Smith, said in the face of all these challenges, the school was doing well.
“My biggest wish was to have accommodation for my staff on campus, to save them the problem of commuting and rushing to school already exhausted,” she said.
She said apart from the accommodation problem, she wanted an end to the perennial flooding problem, as well as an assembly hall to be built for the students.
“It is sad that some functions that required gathering of the whole school had to take place in an open space at the mercy of the weather,” she said.
“We need more classroom blocks and the completion of drain to avert the flood “every year.’’
She added that this year ‘’we have to suspend classes because some of the classrooms were flooded and the students have to scoop the water out before classes commences,” she said.
“Though there is easy accessibility of the school, every year we have to turn away students with very good grades because we could not admit them,” she said.
In the area of security Mrs Smith said they had security and the only problem was the unwanted visitors that used the school compound as the easiest thoroughfare to get to town.
She said recently the Parent-Teacher Association had provided the school with a sick bay and a medical doctor who visits the school frequently to attend to the students in case any of them required medical attention.
No comments:
Post a Comment