Kandiga: Pupils of Amenga-Etego Primary School sit on stones to study under trees

It is very pathetic, if not appalling to see how the staff of Amenga-Etego Primary School are struggling to impart knowledge to their pupils.

Studying under shea and dawadawa trees puts the lives of over 200 pupils of the Amenga-Etego Primary School in danger.

Located at Kandiga Bembisi in the Kasena Nanakana West District in the Upper East Region, these pupils are subjected to bad weather conditions, a dusty environment and destruction from road users.

The situation becomes dire in the rainy season compelling teachers to end classes when the clouds begin to gather. To make matters worse, others use stones as furniture to study under the trees.

“There were three pavilions erected in 1993 and since then nothing has been done. So the children sit under trees to learn. When it rains, the children cannot learn.

"During harmattan, the children are not able to learn. This is making the children lose contact hours. While their colleagues in other schools are learning, they will be home during rains,” Nicholas Aboyinga, a patron for Bembisi Youth Association.

Currently, primary one, two and three pupils are studying under trees while primary four, five and six are studying under a dilapidated three-unit classroom block that the community put up some years back. The doors of the existing classroom blocks are broken down and the floors have developed cracks.

A former Assembly Member of the Bembisi Electoral Area Clement Ndogseh recounted how he wrote several letters to the Kasena Nankana District Assembly on the poor state of the school but to no avail.

“I have tabled the issue of this school to the DCE during assembly meetings during my time at the assembly but there has not been any progress. No infrastructure has been added since its establishment. Previous and present government has assured us of a three-unit classroom block but we are yet to see it.”

The hope of the community is on government and charity organizations to help save the situation before the rains set in.