Pastor slams stakeholders for the deterioration of school blocks

A pastor has expressed dismay at the practice among stakeholders to allow school blocks and other public buildings to deteriorate before scrambling to rehabilitate or replace them at great cost.

Rev Jehoiada Godwin Kwaku Amuzu, Executive Director of Youth For Christ Heritage (YUFRIST), was speaking at the launch of activities to mobilize resources to renovate the EP Primary and D/A schools at Fodzoku in the North-Tongu District.

He said whereas some other countries would strive to secure the original state of public buildings for posterity, in Ghana, seeing them waste away was normal.

Partners in the school block rehabilitation project are the Volta River Authority (VRA), under whose auspices Fodzoku was resettled as a result of the construction of the Kpong Hydro Dam, the EP Church, Ghana Education Service (GES), the Member of Parliament, North-Tongu District Assembly and the School Management Committee.

“Let us demonstrate our commitment to the education of our children by taking meaningful steps to mobilize support for the comprehensive renovation of the school infrastructure,” he told the gathering of teachers, Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) executives, representatives of the traditional council and a few pupils.

“I charge all of us to do something individually, collectively and corporately for the good of the Fodzoku community,” Rev Amuzu said.

He put estimated total cost of the project, which involved masonry, electrical, carpentry and painting works at Gh¢75,438.00.

Rev. Amuzu, who is also the District Pastor of the EP Church at Torgorme, said 30 years of the EP Primary School and D/A Junior High Secondary blocks at Fodzoku, was not long enough for the school block to deteriorate to that level.

Using slides he showed cracked walls, eroded floors, weak roofing, gaping windows and a crude walled area as a urinal.

Rev. Amuzu said fund raising strategies would include outdoor events such as concerts and a stakeholders’ durbar.

He said there would be direct appeals and a ground-breaking ceremony to kick-start the project implementation had been scheduled for February 2015.

Togbe Afum Asare III, Chief of Fodzoku, in a speech read for him said the school, which produced many prominent people, had had no renovation since its construction 30 years ago.

Mr Samuel Degboe, Headmaster of the Fodzoku D/A JHS, said education was vital for the socio-economic growth of all societies.

He said the current environment was not conducive for teaching and learning and must improve.

Mr Degboe observed that whereas enrolment was rising at the Catholic Basic School recently re-housed in a GETFund new block, the EP Primary School and D/A JHS were losing pupils.