Paga JHS authorities cry over land encroachment, call on District Assembly to address situation

The Headmaster of Paga Junior High School in the Kasena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region, Isaac Pabia, has said activities of land encroachers on the school land is one of the major challenges stifling the development of the institution.

According to him, the encroachers, whose activities on the land have risen in recent times, have taken advantage of the undocumented standing of the land to unjustifiably take away portions of the school property.

In his address at the launch of the school’s 60th anniversary celebration where he made the revelation, Mr. Pabia said that activities of the encroachers were greatly harming the school and creating a future that will leave the institution without enough land. He expressed worry over the age-long situation and wondered how the school will provide land for expansion and other development projects in the near future if they are not stopped.

Mr. Pabia in his speech mentioned that the only way the school could ward off the “illegal land grabbers” is for the assembly to properly demarcate and mark out the school land. He therefore made a passionate appeal to the traditional council of the Paga Traditional Area and the District Assembly to collectively step in with immediate action to curb the situation.

“One of the major problems facing the school is land encroachment. This is occasioned by the fact that the school land has not been properly demarcated. I wish to use this opportunity to appeal to the traditional council and the district assembly to take urgent steps to demarcate the school land to avoid further encroachment”. He articulated.

He also appealed to well-meaning individuals, old students of the school and organizations to contribute immensely towards the construction of a well-equipped computer laboratory for the school. The construction of the laboratory will form part of the legacy project being undertaken by the school as it celebrates the anniversary.

The Kasena- Nankana West District Director of Education, Ms Victoria Aganalie Mahama, who was part of other dignitaries present at the occasion called on stakeholders not to relax in their support to bettering the quality of education in the district.

She said the unquantifiable support stakeholders have given in education in the District has brought the impartation of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to students and has urged them not to relent in their efforts.

The Education Director implored students to take advantage of modern technologies such as electricity, computers and the internet and use them to aid effective learning to improve themselves in their sums, spellings and other academic works.

“60 years ago, other children were trying to learn but they were living in a different time. There were not many houses, electricity, no computers, no television, no mobile phones, and no internet services. There were a lot of differences. But times have changed now with lots of these technologies available”. So use them to learn new things”. Ms. Mahama stressed.

She advised students to be respectful to their teachers and desist from recalcitrant behaviours that can make them loss focus in life and their studies.