Mampong Presby SHS needs support

Inadequate infrastructure and basic logistics at the Presbyterian Senior High School at Mampong-Akuapem in the Eastern Region are seriously undermining effective teaching and learning in the school.

The school has only two six-unit classroom blocks and these are “inadequate” to cater for the student population of 1,860, made up of 951 girls and 909 boys.

Lack of accommodation

Apart from the headmaster and the senior housemistress who are accommodated on the compound, all the teachers stay outside the school. According to the headmaster, Rev. E. T. Akusaki, the situation had persisted since the inception of the school 22 years ago, making student supervision and monitoring ineffective.

No vehicle 

Rev. Akusaki, who was speaking to the  Daily Graphic during a visit to the school on February 12, pointed out that the school had no bus to facilitate the movement of the students for extra-curricular activities and for administrative purposes.

The school, he explained, however had  an old Mitsubishi pickup which was bought 20 years ago by the government which is now ‘unserviceable, and a Renault Duster donated by the  Presbyterian Church of Ghana for administrative functions.

Infrastructure and potable water

According to the headmaster, the school, which was set up to admit students mainly from the Akuapem area, now admitted students from all parts of the country, leading to an increased student population.

He stated that work on the only girls’ dormitory, a two-storey building being funded by the PTA, had stalled due to lack of funds.

Besides, he said the school also lacked a proper assembly hall, a situation that had compelled the management to put up a shed that was not floored and walled but served as both the assembly hall and a dining hall.

The headmaster said students walked for about one kilometre to fetch water from mechanised boreholes that were jointly funded by the school and a philanthropist. He, however, said because two of the five boreholes were not functioning, students had to queue to fetch water

Insecurity

Rev. Akusaki said another major challenge facing the school authorities was the absence of a wall around the school, saying since there were many routes to the school, criminals exploited the situation, leading to the stealing of personal belongings of students and teachers and building materials, mainly iron rods being used for projects in the school.

“We are in dire need of storey buildings, bungalows, tarred roads, a fence, a dining hall and a school bus to raise the standard of academic work,” he stated.