Teachers threaten to quit school

Suhum, May 24, GNA - The entire teaching staff of the Junior Secondary School at Santramorzorh, a farming village near Suhum, have threaten to leave the school in protest against the dilapidated nature of the school block they described as " a death trap".

The Omankrado of the village, Nene Samuel Lamtei, announced this at an emergency meeting held with the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and the School Management Committee (SMC).

He said the teachers had already sent a petition to that effect to the District Chief Executive, the District Director of the GES, the Circuit Supervisor, the Assembly member and Unit Committee for the area. According to the Omankrado, the teachers complained that the dilapidated nature of the classroom blocks, especially that of the JSS, were becoming death traps and they could not continue to teach under such a dangerous condition.

The chairman of the PTA, Mr. Isaac Zorh said the community constructed the Primary School in 1956 and the JSS was built in 1986 and neither of them had seen any renovation despite appeals to that effect to the Suhum/Kraboa/Coaltar District Assembly.

According to him, during the 2004 general elections campaign period, a contractor came to inform the community that he had been awarded a contract to construct the JSS classroom block. He said, to this end, members of the PTA and the SMC organized the people to clear the site for the commencement of work, but since then he had never returned.

The Headmaster of the JSS, Mr Grant Yerenkyi, who confirmed the story, said several complaints about the bad nature of the classroom blocks, especially the JSS, to the authorities had been made but nothing positive had been heard from them.

He said because of the dangerous condition of the blocks, some parents had withdrawn their children from the school, saying two pupils of the JSS had sustained serous injuries when part of the classroom block collapsed on them during a rainfall.