The headmaster of the St. Paul’s SHS in Asakraka – Kwahu, Mr. Paul Agbake has appealed to authorities to provide the school with some basic facilities to boost the academic morale of the students.
The headmaster made the appeal during the Green Ghana Day observation which was led by the Member of Parliament for Mpraeso constituency, Davis Ansah Opoku affectionately referred to as OPK on Saturday, June 11.
Mr. Agbake while speaking with an exclusive interview with Republic FM’s Andy Frimpong Manso pleaded with the Government and Education authorities to assist the school in the provision of staff bungalow and girl’s dormitory.
The headmaster appealed to the MP who was present in the school to mount pressure on government and secure good and conducive facilities for the students.
“The MP has started already but as a school we lack many facilities. To start with is my staff bungalow including the headmaster, all of us are outside and some even coming from Nkawkaw, Jejeti, Aduamoa and the rest and out of 72 teachers and 34 of the non-teaching staff only three of our staff are residents and you can imagine a total number of 1,348 students only 3 teachers”.
“Come to talk about security, the school doesn’t have any. The school had to go for one security at night and one in the day for that total number”, he added
The school has 948 boarding students.
A tour to the girls dormitory showed a dilapidated and unkempt room, filled with congestion and unpleasant experiences due to the overcrowding students being piled in some small but segregated dormitory. The ceiling roof in the dormitory almost looks to fall apart with holes dunging out of the upper layer of the room’s ceiling.
One of the students, name withheld told Andy Frimpong Manso that a snake bite almost exterminated one of the girls some few weeks ago.
“My girls dormitory, when you go there you will leave within the next two minutes. The girls are 513 in the boarding house but they’re still using the old dilapidated rooms that used in the 80s and I’m appealing through to the honorable MP to force our government, our President and those who matter to come to our aid by assisting us have bungalows, dormitory, security and even our kitchen”, he stated.
On his part, the MP, Mr. Davis Ansah Opoku assured the school that their grievances will be channeled to the central government to come to their aid.
“It will be worked on. So he made mention of security and all of that. We are going to find ways where government will give us some assurance and even take steps in employing people to help manage security on campus. It’s so important for the safety of the students and for the properties of the school.
Today we have a new Bus and if we have only one person at night manning the entire place, it’s a big problem but I think one of the forms of security issues that in recent times I’ve he’d from some schools has to do with lightening. Everyday they complain about lightening in certain vantage areas and it’s on that note that we will be given St. Paul’s an additional 20 street to help with the lightening situation in the Campus and as for the other things, the only we can do it is to continue to lobby from government.
But the worry has to do with the ladies where over 500 students would have to be sharing classrooms and use that as dormitories, I don’t think it’s proper for young and beautiful ladies we have in St. Paul’s”, he said
The MP assured that the street lights will be provide on Monday, June 13.
