Coronavirus: Sonuto A.M.E school calls for more PPEs

Correspondence from Volta Region:

The headmistress of Sonuto African Methodist Episcopal (AME) basic school in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta region, Ms. Gladys Quarshie is calling on authorities to provide the school with more personal protective equipment (PPEs) to avert any possible contracting and spreading of the COVID-19.

According to the headmistress of the school comprising of Kindergarten, Primary, and Junior High School, with more than three hundred students excluding the Kindergarten, the government must assist them as they also resume school but lacking the various personal protective equipment.

“We want to call on the government to come to our aid so that we can solve some of the problems for now because during this season, the Covid era there’s nothing we can do apart from requesting from the government to come and assist us, the nose mask is much needed for all the students because we can’t do without them in this season,” she said.

On a visit to the school on Thursday, January 21, 2021, many students at school were not in their nose masks with excuses of not been given by their parents. In the classrooms, pupils were seated more than 30 due to lack of space and desk.

The headmistress revealed that there is no hand sanitisers, hand washing containers, and enough nose mask to be given to both the teachers and learners.

Speaking on the state of the school, Ms. Quarshie called on the government and individuals to come to their aid by providing better infrastructures to enhance teaching and learning.

“...as for the classroom blocks, in fact, looking at the nature of the school blocks we cannot do anything, when it’s raining season and you come to this place you will pity us, we don’t know when something will happen to this block and the lives of the students will be in danger so we are pleading to the government” she pleaded.

She noted that her teaching staff are ready to support the children but “we can’t continue teaching these students in these classrooms” she said.

The school is more than 5 decades but cannot boast of any modern infrastructure as well as teaching and learning equipment especially for the Primary and the JHS levels. The aged pavilion constructed by the community has already deteriorated, the blocks being washed away living the metal pillars standing alone, most parts of the roofing were also destroyed by storms making the woods supporting the walls and the roof looking very weak.

For these young ones, the pupils, as long as they continue schooling in such deteriorated facilities, their dreams of becoming notable persons for their families, the community and Ghana as a whole remain uncertain.