400 pupils  left stranded as a storm tears off the classroom block’s roof.

After a downpour demolished their classrooms, the future of more than 400 students at the Manle Dada Basic and African Unity schools in the La Dadekotopon Municipality is in doubt.

The African Unity School’s nine-unit classroom block and adjacent offices were damaged in May of this year, but no renovations have yet been made.

Three classrooms out of the nine units in the nine-unit building at Manle Dada Basic School were obliterated on September 22 by rainfall.

Rapid News learned that all of the students were transferred to share classrooms with their counterparts from Manle Dada Basic School when the African Unity School could no longer be used for teaching and learning.

Parents, instructors, and students are concerned about the students’ well-being as basic schools are set to resume on Tuesday, October 3. They are praying for a prompt intervention.

Dreadful condition

The African Unity School block was completely destroyed when Rapid News visited the two schools that share a property last Monday.

All of the classrooms were without roofs, and the ceilings were haplessly decaying away, leaving the furnishings vulnerable to the sweltering sun and torrential rain.

Additionally, it was noted that most of the classrooms had accumulated rainwater.

The classrooms’ windows and doors were also damaged, making it a shelter for stray animals and people with mental disabilities.

The situation was the same at the Manle Dada Basic School where three classrooms in the nine-unit block had had their roofs torn off.

Parent Abigail Sarpong expressed concern to the Daily Graphic that the authorities had not repaired the two schools despite multiple requests from residents of La South.

“In May of this year, a rainfall completely damaged the African Unity School.

Although the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) visited the school and made a commitment to make repairs, nothing has yet been done.

Next Monday, school will resume, and she wondered where the kids would sit when they arrived.

Schoolwork was impacted

Academic work has been significantly impacted since the African Unity Basic School was damaged by a downpour in May of this year, according to a source in one of the schools who asked to remain anonymous.

The African Unity Basic School’s whole student body was persuaded to join their peers at Manle Dada Basic School.

The students share all of the facilities, including the classrooms, so you can imagine the strain this puts on the scarce resources, as the insider stated.

The insider continued by saying it was counterproductive to force two teachers from separate schools to teach two groups of students from different schools in the same classroom.

The source emphasized that due to the rise in class size, which went above the recommended 30 students per class, the merging of the two institutions had a negative impact on teaching and learning.

When school resumes on October 3, the students won’t have a place to sit and learn because the Manle Dada Basic School has also been destroyed, the source claimed.

Once more, it stated that despite the two schools’ existing condition having been brought to the attention of the La Dadekotopon Assembly and the local education administration, no real steps had been taken to fix the roofs.

Rev. Solomon Kotey Nikoi, the municipal chief executive (MCE), said that urgent measures were being made to ensure that the affected students have shelter when Rapid News phoned the La Dadekotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA) to inquire about what the assembly was doing about the matter.

He stated, “The Municipal Education Director brought it to my attention formally yesterday (Monday) and we are working to rectify it.

Rev. Nikoi stated that while steps were being taken to update the children’s classrooms, LaDMA and the Municipal Education Directorate were trying to keep the kids in school.

“We are considering temporarily relocating the kids to a different school with the intention of relocating them back after the work is finished.

My director of education is addressing that and will give me advice,” he said.

He assured them that LaDMA was involving several parties, including private organizations, to make sure the two schools were fixed as soon as possible.

He said, “Puma Energy is helping us roof the school, so I’ve instructed my technical men to produce the estimates so they can start working on it.

When asked why the African Unity School had not been roofed after four months, he said the assembly had a budgetary constraint to undertake the project since it was not budgeted for in the current budget circle.

Again, he said that although a contractor had agreed to pre-finance the project, they were yet to mobilize to the site.

Caution

He stated that the assembly was not aware that churches were using the classrooms for their services in response to the concern.

He added that the problem would be addressed as soon as it came to his attention.

“We forbid churches from doing services in the schools, yet some teachers secretly permit it.

I take prompt action if my attention is called to it,” he insisted.

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