INADEQUATE INFRASTRUCTURE AFFECTS LESS-ENDOWED SCHOOLS (PAGE 11, NOV 26, 2010)

INADEQUATE and run-down infrastructure such as classrooms, teachers’ bungalows, dormitories or hostels have, over the years, made it difficult for less- endowed schools in the country to put up their best, the Dean of the Faculty of Art at the College of Arts and Social Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Daniel A. Ohene Adu, has observed.
He said challenges of inadequate staff members, library facilities and poorly stocked libraries had contributed to the abysmal performance of the less-privileged schools in the country.
“The inability of students to pay their school fees as a result of poor income levels, lack of exposure, their relatively poor numeracy and language skills and inadequate textbooks in the less-privileged schools could not be downplayed in assessing the challenges of less-endowed schools in their attempt to educate the youth for national development,” Prof. Adu pointed out.
The Dean of the Faculty of Art made these observations when he addressed the first Speech and Prize-giving day of Berekum Presbyterian Senior High School (Berekum PRESEC) on the theme: “Educating the Youth for National Development: The Role and Challenges of Less-Endowed Schools.”
Prof. Adu said it was evident that problems of education related to funding, teacher quality and quantity, poor student academic performance, equal educational opportunity as well as curriculum, in relation to labour force needs and global competition.
He, therefore, called on all stakeholders, including the government, parents and guardians, old students or alumni, headmasters, teachers, staff and students, to play their individual and collective roles well, in order to provide sustainable solutions to the myriad of problems that confronted the less-endowed schools.
Prof. Adu, however, pointed out that the problems that plague the less-privileged schools and by a wider stretch the entire educational sector do not in any way preclude such schools from performing their roles in properly educating the country’s youth for national development.
He declared: “Less-endowed schools have on many occasions provided the sole opportunity for some youth to attain education. Such schools must, therefore, continue to provide the needed avenue for the training of the country’s youth for national development.”
The Dean of KNUST maintained that the quality of the human resource base of every country was, undoubtedly, one of the most valued and important resources through which that country could accelerate development and achieve competitive advantage in the global world, which was characterised by competition, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as well as a high level research, among others.
In his report, Mr Joseph Mensah-Diawuo, the Headmaster of Berekum Presec, indicated that the school which started with a student population of 40 in 1993 had increased steadily over the years to the current figure of 1,700, adding that enrolment could have been bigger but for the lack of classroom accommodation.
He announced that the school’s performance in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) had been very impressive, as it had recorded 100 per cent pass over the years, adding: “Our school has put aside our numerous constraints to turn our less-endowed students into teachers, nurses, soldiers, policemen/women, teaching assistants in the universities and great international footballers, such as John Paintsil of the Ghana Black Star fame.”
Mr Mensah-Diawuo stated that the time had come for the government to direct its attention to the less-endowed schools, by providing them with the basic infrastructure needs to promote teaching and learning, stressing that in spite of its constraints, Berekum Presec was doing very well academically under strict Presbyterian discipline.
The school’s Senior Prefect, Master Seth Effah, said despite its impressive performance, the school lacked a number of facilities, including an assembly hall, science laboratory, dormitories, an administration block and classrooms, among other pressing needs.