Authorities at the Swedru Secondary School in the Central Region have expressed concern over the lack of adequate accommodation for teachers on campus and the incomplete fence wall of the school.
The headmistress of the school, Golda Esi Andam, told Citi News that the lack of accommodation for teachers on campus is hindering teaching and learning activities. She explained that teachers have to commute from town to school, which sometimes leads to late arrivals and disruptions to classes.
The headmistress also said that the incomplete fence wall is a security concern. She explained that stray animals often enter the school compound and destroy school property and that some students have taken advantage of the broken-down wall to leave the school without permission.
Despite these challenges, the school has received some support from old students and other stakeholders. Recently, an old student, Dr. George Agyekum Donkor, with support from the Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development, built a bungalow for the school.
The bungalow will provide accommodation for teachers and help to improve supervision on campus.
“In Swedru Secondary School, the student population is very huge. We have a student population of over four thousand in all. But with such a student population we have a lot of challenges with accommodation for teachers who stay on campus. I had to appeal to the board to act.
“An appeal was made to old students of the school to support and so we started selling out the idea. An old student Dr. George Agyekum Donkor decided to support us with funding from Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development where they built a bungalow for the school,” the headmistress of the school Gold Esi Andam told Citi News.
“The lack of accommodation affects the teaching staff in the sense that they have to commute from town to school and sometimes come in late which affects teaching and learning. Now that we have this bungalow it will help us with supervision since we will have extra hands on campus to support us”the headmistress added.
Other old students have also built an incinerator and a toilet facility for the school. These projects have helped to address some of the school’s infrastructure needs, but the headmistress says that more needs to be done to complete the fence wall and provide adequate accommodation for teachers.
“When we talk of the toilet facility the girls house four and house 2 unfortunately did not have a facility and so had to use that of other houses. This brought congestion during school hours. We appealed to the old students for help and the 1975 year group came on board and promised to complete the project.
“Similarly, we appealed to another year group for the incinerator and the 1978 year group decided to see to its completion to commemorate their fifty years of entering Swesco,” Golda Esi Andam noted.
“One of the challenges we face has to do with the fence wall of the school where portions of it are broken down. Stray animals and students have taken advantage of it and doesn’t auger well for us as a school,” the headmistress of the school said.