Primary school pupils of the 31st December Basic School in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region still take lessons under baobab trees.
On January 3, 2016, TV3 reported how the three classroom block constructed in 1996 has outlived its usefulness and the dangers that teachers and pupils of the school are faced with.
District Chief Executive Mohammed Lukumanu Amin at the time revealed plans by the District to immediately construct a pavilion for pupils with some bags of cement donated by the Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Dey Abubakari.
However, three months on, the structure – which has virtually become a death trap – still accommodate and is yet to receive attention from the District Assembly despite the severe cracks.
The situation according Headmistress Madam Rebecca Sekere has affected enrollment.
Enrollment since its establishment in 1996 have been around eight hundred pupils but dropped to less than four hundred pupils in the 2015/2016 academic year.
She attributes the fall to what she termed as “inconducive environment which is not attractive enough for parents to enroll their wards”.
Pupils are left under the mercy of the weather with residents turning the school premises to a thoroughfare to the main township.
The school located at the center of Salaga was established as a community school by residents with a three-classroom block to accommodate Nursery One to Three pupils but was in 2007 absorbed by government.
Immediately after government absorbed the school, the construction of a six-classroom block commenced to provide shelter for pupils, but since her assumption as the headmistress of the school, Madam Rebecca Sekere says she has never seen the contractor at work.
She added that efforts by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in making several calls to the Salaga District Education Directorate and the Assembly to get the contractor back have proven futile.
However, District Chief Executive Mohammed Amin Lukman has maintained that “the six abandoned GET Fund classroom block will be awarded to a new contractor soon”.
“The state of the school is an indictment to the Assembly hence will explore all means to fix the structure,” he added.
By Zubaida Ismail|tv3network.com|Ghana
