Some children at the Breman Jamera Methodist School in the Central region say they are unable to concentrate in school because they are being haunted by images of last week’s disaster which killed six of them.
The children who returned to school on Monday say they are scared.
Speaking to Joy News’ Justice Baidoo, one of the pupils said “we have not seen anything like this before. I am very scared. Every time that I imagine it, I cannot learn.”
Another said “I am so scared because we know that after this it will come to us and we will die and so I decided to stop school.
“I am scared because I know that when I come, my school building can collapse and kill me,” she added.
She also added that most parents have withdrawn their wards from the school, “so most of them have stopped schooling here.
Some other children who spoke to Justice expressed same sentiments. The children say they are disappointed that government did not come to construct a new school building when their teachers requested that to be done.
School Collapse
Six kindergarten children, aged between two and five, died last week when their school building collapsed on them just when they were preparing to start studying.
It became apparent after the incident, that school authorities had informed authorities about some cracks in the school building and requested for a new one to be built.
However, nothing was done about the situation until the unfortunate incident occurred.
In an interview with Joy News shortly after the incident, Education Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh said government has informed contractors working on a new school block to speed up work.
He also added the government will foot the burial fees of the deceased and some form of counselling will be offered the remaining school children.
Headteacher of the School Jacob Amissah regrets the death of the children but said he is not to blame for the disaster because he did his best.
Meanwhile, Joy News has discovered that more than 20 kindergarten schools in the same Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District are in similar conditions as the Jamra school block that killed the six children.
District Director of Education Isaac Acquah said he has had to move some of the pupils into appropriate school structures.
Some of the are not even in blocks, he said, adding that “these structures are not safe for children to study.”
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