Ekumfi Otuam community wants school fixed in honour of late President Mills

Some Residents and students of Ekumfi Otaum in the Central Region want authorities to urgently attend to the many infrastructural challenges of the Otuam Methodist Junior High School.

Currently the roof of some of the classrooms have been ripped off leaving  students at the mercy of the weather.

There have also been instances where reptiles scare teachers and students aways from the classrooms as a result of the lack of proper doors mounted on some classrooms some students have said.

The school is one of the very few public schools in the Otuam community with a population of a little over five hundred.

The school which has served the fishing community for decades is on the brink of collapse if attention is not given to it. 

According to some residents of the community, the situation has denied most children in the community to opportunity to decent education. 

Isaac Taylor the chairman for the School Management Committee explained that they have reported severally to the Ekumfi District Assembly to fix the school but that has not yielded results. 

"As the chairman of the school management commitee I have taken the needed step to prompt the assembly to fix the school but they are saying they are waiting for the common fund to help fix the school. The opinion leaders of the community are also aware and they have also promised to solicit support from indigenes of Otuam both in Ghana and abroad to help"the chairman for the SMC said. 

"Late Professor John Evans Atta Mills comes from this community including some prominent people like David  Kwamina Bolton a world renowned software developer so we have the men to help develop Otuam but that has not happened as we have been left unattended to. Since this school is in the home town of late Professor Mills we will want the government to fix this school in honour of him since we all know very well his contributions in the educational sector,"Isaac Taylor said.

The school also lacks access to a proper place of convenience apart from  the students sitting in dilapidated classrooms and teachers and students are forced to either go home or resort to open defecation if they want to attend to nature's call Isaac Taylor reiterated.

"We also have challenges with a place of convenience  for both teachers and students and students are forcd to go home to attend to nature's call or resort to open dedication and this is not helpful" he added. 

The John Evans Attah Mills Senior High School which is in the same community is also faced with the challenge of students having to trek long distances to school because the school does not have a boarding facility. 

Male students of the school are forced to bring bicycles to school and this comes at a cost since some of them are unfortunately knocked down by speeding vehicles on the dusty and dilapidated road that leads  to the school.

But for the District Chief Executive for Ekumfi  Ebenezer Kwesi Monney indicated that plans are in place to fix the school since a budget has been allocated for it. He explained further that the only thing causing the delay in the release of the funds for the project is the processes in approving the budget.

"We are aware of the challenges of the community particularly the delapidated school and we have made funds available for that but the challenge has been the processes in releasing the funds. The school will be fixed and the same applies to the Otuam Senior High School.

Story : Calvis Tetteh GIJ Intern