The kindergarten section of the Jacob Wilson Sey basic school at Bakaano in Cape Coast has been closed down by the National Disaster Management Organisation due to the dilapidated nature of the classroom building.
Assessment by officials of NADMO has revealed the building, which has become a deathtrap, is unfit for habitation as the walls and floor of the classrooms have developed cracks while a part of the roof has been ripped off.
The building is said to have been constructed 70 years ago, and has not seen any major renovation work. Parts of the concrete ceiling occasionally fall off but pupils always escape injury.
According to the chairman of the school’s Parent Teacher Association, Nana Kobina -Dekyie, several letters to relevant authorities, including the NADMO, Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly Assembly and the Ghana Education Service, seeking assistances have not received favourable response.
He wants the government and stakeholders to come to the aid of the school by constructing a new kindergarten block for them, noting it would be more costly to renovate the abandoned one.
Formerly known as Self Reliance, the kindergarten was merged with the Jacob Wilson Sey M/A Basic School in 2008 due to the new education reforms.
Currently, the kindergarten pupils numbering 74 have occupied the classrooms of primary 2 and 3 with others taking up spaces in the corridors, a situation that is making teaching and learning difficult.
Class two and three pupils are sharing one classroom, and are faced with ventilation problems.
The school lacks a library with well stocked books, an ICT lab or logistics, and the staff common room is not big enough to accommodate all the teachers, forcing some of them to use the corridors for marking and other activities.
It is also faced with the challenge from residents of Bakaano use the school as a thorough fare, refuse dump and openly defecate on the premises.
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