Safety of schools must not be compromised

Last week, the Daily Graphic reported that the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), between 2017 and 2024, has completed 3,001 projects. 

Significantly, those projects, over 1,820 of them, representing 61 per cent, predated the stated period, while the remaining 1,174, representing 39 per cent, are new initiatives.

A statement issued in Accra said the availability of the bond funds to GETFund ensured the completion of a significant number of facilities in second cycle schools within a short period.

This surely is good news, particularly considering the number of uncompleted projects dotted all over tertiary and second cycle schools across the country.

The Daily Graphic commends GETFund for completing some of these projects to ensure that the daily lamentation of educational institutions at both the tertiary and secondary levels over the lack of infrastructural facilities has been addressed.

At the secondary level, the lack of infrastructure led to the introduction of the popular double track system to enable the management of the educational sector to accommodate more students as a fallout of the free senior high school (SHS).

So, while the double track system was being implemented, a number of infrastructural facilities were being put up to phase out the programme, and today, some of the once double track schools have returned to single track.

However, it is obvious that some of these uncompleted structures can still be found in some of the institutions.

The sad part of it is that the uncompleted structures have become havens for squatters who now live with the school communities on their premises.

Most of the intruders in the uncompleted structures are junkies, drug peddlers, wee smokers and the mentally challenged.

A typical example is a stalled four-storey eight-unit facility for staff at the Labone Senior High School that has become a haven for squatters. (See story on back page of yesterday’s Daily Graphic).

The uncompleted structure is overgrown with weeds, and is sited not far from a classroom block. However, the top floor has been converted into a dormitory because of the large number of students.

At the base of the infrastructure, dried faecal matter is dotted on the tiles, while caked cement, dirty clothing, empty plastic bottles, jute bags and empty water sachets, among other things, have made the environment dirty.

This description at the Labone SHS is not a peculiar case. It is a familiar scene at such uncompleted structures.

The Daily Graphic is worried that these developments are not only unhealthy, but pose a serious security threat to the students, management and, indeed, the school’s property.

Many students always complain of their items, such as laptops and mobile phones, getting missing at the tertiary institutions as well as school uniforms and footwear at the secondary level. In all these cases, these squatters cannot be absolved of these theft cases.

We are surprised that such squatters stay within the schools’ vicinities and management are not aware or unable to ensure that these squatters are cleared from their premises.

Truth is that these squatters do not move into the structures on a day. Often, they begin with one person and the rest follow, one by one, until they become uncontrollable.

In the case of the Labone SHS, we are disappointed that the management are unable to prevent these miscreants from exposing the students to danger.

It is clear that the institution has security, at least, according to the story, and we wonder whether the work of the security officials is limited to opening of the gate of the school to visitors or their responsibility goes beyond the gate to securing the entire premises.

For us, we think there are more questions than answers. Is the management of the school saying that they are handicapped in enforcing security on the premises of the school?

Is the management unaware of the danger the presence of the squatters within the school premises pose to the lives of the students and property?

One would have expected that once management detected that a portion of the wall of the school was compromised and there was sufficient suspicion that these squatters were living in the uncompleted structure, every effort would be made to drive them away.

Even if the internal security is unable to handle the situation, nothing prevents management from seeking police support to carry out such an exercise. Thankfully, the police headquarters is just a stone’s throw from the school and nothing prevents the school from approaching the police for help.

The Daily Graphic is sad that instead of the school doing something about the situation, its management is calling on the government to speed up the completion of those projects.

It is said that God helps those who help themselves, and so we expect the school to start doing something on their own before asking for government’s support.

We also use this opportunity to urge the GETFund to try and complete some of such uncompleted structures in our educational institutions.