Tamvaar JHS pupils learn under sheds

Residents of Tamvaar in the Wa West District have decried the lack of classrooms for the Tamvaar Roman Catholic Junior High School (JHS), which have compelled the school children to study under sheds.

The pupils are usually combined into the Roman Catholic Church auditorium in the community during raining seasons for teaching and learning, while others still sit under the sheds

Madam Yaayi Beser, a resident of the community located in the Upper West Region told the Ghana News Agency that any time it rained the children had to stop classes and run home.

“We do not have classrooms for the school; the children sit under sheds, so when it is raining they have to run to the house. You will see them wet, they can even fall sick. It is not helping us, our children are suffering,” she said.

Madam Tenma Gema, another resident, said the situation discouraged some teachers from coming to teach in the school, which had also compounded the academic challenges the children were facing.

“Now there is development everywhere we want our children to sit in classrooms and learn. As the children sit under the sheds, anything can happen, snakes can attack them,” she added.

Thus, the residents appealed to the government and benevolent organisations and individuals to come to their aid by providing the school with classroom blocks to help improve academic performance.

Meanwhile, Mr Yussif Gizuure, the Assembly Member for the Baleofiili Electoral Area, indicated that access to quality education in the area was a challenge as some of the schools lacked adequate infrastructure while others lacked adequate teachers.

He said aside the lack of classroom blocks and teachers in some schools, the deplorable state of the roads in the area also impeded academic activities, especially in the raining season as some schools were cut-off from other communities they serve.

The situation also affected the education of girls in the community as some of the girls are unable to cope with the challenging situation, he added.

“In this community, you see a lot of girls starting school at the primary level , but when they are getting to the JHS, some of them stop. They say it is better they go and marry,” he said.

“My own sister was a victim, but she has now gone back to school.” However, he said he would liaise with the Wa West District Assembly to seek help in order to meet some of the challenges in the education sector in the Electoral Area.