The Moderator of Presbyterian Church of Ghana Rt. Rev Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante on Thursday January 20,2022 visited RIIS Presby “B” Basic School in Koforidua where close to 400 students have been displaced after their classroom block was reclaimed by the local congregation of the Church for office facility.
The visit by the Moderator and his entourage is to assess the challenges on grounds and help fix it.
The spokesperson for the Moderator Rev.George Larbi told the media that his boss was worried after hearing the unfortunate development hence decision to personally visit the school.
He said the Moderator promised that the church will in immediate term construct a four unit pavilion classroom block expected to be completed before the end of March this year to reverse the shift system being implemented as a stopgap measure.
He said in the long term the Church will covert the pavilion into a complete classroom block facility if the need arises.
Teachers and Pupils of RIIS Presby “B” Basic School on the first day of reopening on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, arrived in to surprisingly observe their classrooms undergoing renovation and conversion to office accommodation facility by the Church.
The building was released to the school by Ascension Congratulations of the Presbyterian Church in Koforidua to be used temporarily as a classroom block for the Junior High School students some seven years ago however the government has failed to construct a classroom block for the JHS as a GETFUND classroom block project has been abandoned.
Following the eviction of the students , a shift system has been reintroduced as a stop-gap measure to improvise the lower Primary classrooms to accommodate the displaced JHS students.
With the new arrangement, Primary 1 to 3 pupils will attend school in the morning while primary 4 to 6 pupils will come to school in the afternoon.
This shift system would enable the Junior High School students including final years preparing for Basic Education Certificate Examination to have uninterrupted studies .
The New Juaben South Municipal Director of Education Victor Degraft Etsison told Starr news the emergency measure is not the reintroduction of the shift system.
“That is what we have come to meet this morning but I can assure you that Ghana Education Service is on the ground. We’ve made very fast arrangements to ensure that we bring back all the children to the classroom. The arrangements are such that we made a similar arrangement when covid was very serious and we are making same arrangement so I can assure you and assure the general public in particular that no child will sit under a tree or any canopy. From tomorrow you will see academic work seriously in progress
The Municipal Education Director appealed to GETFUND to complete an abandoned classroom block project in the school
With the shift system, the students will enjoy a maximum of two to three hours in school include break time and other activities, but when they are together without the shift system they will have to spend more than three hours and this will not help us to achieve our objectives”.
The Assembly member added that “There is currently an ongoing project which sponsored by GETFUND which started in 2019 but it is still at the footing level, I can’t tell the exact problem in relation to the contract. I explained the GETFUND project issue to the member of parliament and the MCE and they promised that by the end of the year the project will be completed and handed over to the school
Source : Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Kojo Ansah
