The construction of a six-unit classroom block and a teachers’ bungalow for Tousa L/A Primary School awarded on contract in 2011 has been abandoned, forcing pupils and teachers to undertake lessons under trees and in dilapidated blocks.
The School with an enrolment of 220 and located in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region was to be completed in 2012, but work was deserted shortly after the Presidential and Parliamentary elections that year.
Mr Yussif Moomin, Headteacher of the School, told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday that the school also lacked furniture for both pupils and teachers.
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The situation, according to the headteacher, could weaken the morale of teachers and pupils.
He appealed to education authorities to take swift action to revamp the abandoned project.
The situation has created overcrowding in the few classrooms blocks available, as multiple classes have been merged.
Repeated attempts by the then District Chief Executive, Mr Abudu Abdul-Karim, who took over the administration in 2014, to get the contractor back to work proved futile.
Mr Bayorn Dramani, the Assembly Member for Tousa Electoral Area said “the issue of abandoned projects has become a song people sing on daily basis yet is not yielding any positive result” which he claimed had culminated in the upsurge of “classes under trees” in the Wa East District.
“At the moment the pupils are pairing classrooms, class two and three pupils are always kept in a single classroom,” he said.
“Others also sit in a shed provided by the PTA [Parent Teacher Association], but during the rainy season when it’s cloudy and ready to rain, we do allow them to run into the structure,” he added.
He said appeals to the Assembly for assistance have fallen on deaf ears.
However, Mr Evans Kpebah, the Upper West Regional Education Director who is also the Acting Wa East District Director of Education, said although he knows the contractor, the details of the contract remains “sketchy”.
