If multiple nondevelopment challenges were a disease, the Aninkromah D/A basic school in the Atwima Nwabeagya District of the Ashanti Region, will be the exact embodiment of the condition.
The community’s only school serving three hundred and seventy students is facing dire infrastructure challenges.
Old clay built classrooms used by the children are in a deplorable state with gaping holes in the roof with erosion eating away the classroom floors.
The only decent facility that the Aninkromah D/A basic school can boast off, is a three classroom block built by a Non Governmental Organisation.
The school’s plight is compounded by sanitary challenges as the school does not have a single toilet facility for the school heads, the teachers and students.
On the academic end; books, chairs and tables are a privilege and not a necessity as furniture is not enough for students.
The snow ball effect of this situation is the high staff attrition rate as several teachers posted to Aninkromah end up applying to be transferred from the area.
The Queen mother for Aninkromah Nana Dr. Akosua Akyaa told Ultimate News, she has endeavoured to forge collaborations with some notable institutions to provide used text books and donations to solve the education problems in her traditional area.
“Some of the children do not even have basic things like pencils, erasers and books. We don’t have enough tables and chairs especially for the young ones in nursery and kindergarten. We have provided group tables and provided some sheds but we are not interested in listing the challenges. We are looking for sustainable relationships with schools and societies that are privileged, to look at what they have and endeavour to support the less privileged,” she beckoned.
The plethora of challenges has had a big toll on the academic performance of the students as most of them are unable to read.
Head boy of the Ridge School Shawn Nyarko Nguah who described the experience as humbling challenged young students not to wait till they are old before endeavouring to make an impact in society.
The condition of the Aninkroma D/A basic School questions Ghana’s commitment to the full realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal three which binds countries to ensure that no child is left out of education no matter his or her location or financial status.
Source: Ivan Heathcote-Fumador
