Cape Coast, Feb. 09, GNA – Authorities of the Cape Coast Presbyterian Basic School have called for the construction of new classroom blocks to help ease congestion and overcrowding in the school to prevent the coronavirus pandemic.
Adhering to social distancing protocol as a means to check the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) at the school is a big challenge as the overpopulated classrooms are unbearable for both pupils and teachers.
Large class sizes, coupled with inadequate desks and chairs with three pupils sharing a desk and battling hot atmosphere had not been easy for both pupils and teachers.
Students were seen sitting on benches, using some as tables while others improvised “Kuffour gallons” as tables when GNA visited the school on Monday during classes hours.
Poor infrastructure had compelled the Authorities to run part of the School on a different compound, inconveniencing all.
At the primary school, for instance, the A and B classrooms have a total population of 645 pupils with as many as 96 pupils in some of the classrooms.
The situation at the JHS is not different from the form one class located in an abandoned structure belonging to Mensah-Sabah Basic School.
The JHS staff common-room had been converted into a classroom and the teachers were seen hanging around.
These predicaments were highlighted when the St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Cape Coast donated 30 mono desks and two double room canopies to the school on Monday.
The items which were procured at the cost of GH¢10,000.00 followed a request by school authorities to the church to help solve some of their problems.
The canopies would be used to create extra classrooms on the school’s compound in an attempt to reduce class sizes and also practice social distancing.
Mr Eric Arthur, Chairman of the Education Committee of the Presby Church, said the move was to save the precarious situation.
The school, he noted, had available space for expansion and appealed to the government to provide more adequate infrastructure to create enough space for effective academic work.
Mrs Regina Ohenewa Adofo, Headteacher of the Primary School, enumerated some challenges to include, lack of water, insecurity as a result of an unwalled compound resulting in petty thefts and classrooms being used as a place of convenience and appealed for the walling of the school.
For her part, Mrs Vivian Boadu, the JHS Headteacher was grateful to the Presby Church for the timely assistance to help ease the congestion at the school.
She, however, re-echoed the challenges and called for help from all stakeholders.
GNA