The headmaster of Akumadan Afrancho D/A Primary School in the Offinso North District of the Ashanti Region, Mr Awubiga Bernard Atanga has become an object of mockery in his area of work because his office is under a tree and furnished with a table and a chair.
Mr Atanga is seen running with his bag under his armpit to find shelter whenever it rains because he has no shelter over his office, which is an open space metres away from the school, which in itself is an apology of an educational institution.
Whenever the headmaster gets a visitor, it gets more embarrassing because he has only one wooden spare chair for visitors in his office.
The plights of the pupils in the school are no different. The staff and pupils do not enjoy the normal class hours stipulated by the Ghana Education Service whenever it rains because the school is housed in a wooden structure which is unable to provide shelter to the pupils against stormy winds and rains.
Any sign of thunder or rain forces the teachers to end classes so that the staff and pupils could find a safe place for a shelter.
Storage of teaching and learning materials is another headache to the headmaster. Card box, chalk, books and desks are destroyed by rains because the school has no office to keep them in.
Currently, the head teacher and other teaching staff have been forced to use the shade of one of the trees in the school as a ‘staff common room’ where they receive visitors and educational officers.
Mr Atanga told the DAILY HERITAGE the school is currently facing serious challenges because its bad structure poses danger to the pupils.
He said pupils spend hours cleaning the school every Monday morning because residents of the town turn the school into a place of convenience during the weekend.
“Some of the townfolks even have sex in the classrooms, not one, not two but many times,” he stated.
Mr Atanga said despite the challenges, the school is rated as one of the best primary schools in the district whose products have excelled at the junior high and senior high schools in the area.
He said the school has no toilet facility and use surrounding bushes as places of convenience.
He also complained that the school land had been encroached upon by the residents, one of whom is constructing a gas filling station 150 meters away from the school.
The school, which was established in 2006 with a population of 350 from kindergarten one to primary six, is the only government primary school in the area.