Chiefs and people of Adaklu-Hlihave appeal to gov …as KG to class six study under trees

By: Samuel Agbewode

The chiefs and people of Adaklu-Hlihave in the Adaklu- Anyigbe District have made a passionate appeal to the government to help provide the necessary school infrastructure for the basic schools in the town, as the absence is affecting quality teaching and learning which is a major worry of parents and other stakeholders in the area.

The people explained that the community members had made several appeal to the education authorities to help the school, and were now left with no option than to stage a peaceful demonstration to express concern about how the Hlihave community lags behind in terms of development, particularly in the provision of educational infrastructure and other social amenities.

The demonstrators, mostly the youth, who carried placards with inscriptions such as “President Mills we are much disappointed in your leadership,” “We need good classroom blocks for our children,: “No electricity no vote,” “We are tired of promises without fulfillment,” and “No road, no vote,” as they sang patriotic songs while walking through the town.

The demonstrators later converged at a popular meeting place of the community at Hlihave, where the Secretary and Spokesperson of the youth, Mr. Gabriel Awudzi, said the people in the community were totally disappointed in the government, because the community, over the years, had been taking its own initiatives in providing classrooms for the school, with continuous appeals to the government to come to their aid, but to no avail.

Mr. Awudzi noted that the people of Adaklu-Hlihave were hard working and peace loving people who had, on a number of occasions, put up high level of communal spirit just to ensure that children in the town were not left out in acquiring formal education, but it looked as if the government had neglected them, hence the demonstration to draw government’s attention to their plight.

He, therefore, appealed to the government to help in the provision of classroom infrastructure from kindergarten through to classes six, as well as the Junior High School (JHS).

He said the government always promises the community without fulfilling such them, noting the worry of the people was that the poor conditions in the school would not allow pupils in the school to participate favourably in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE), since the pupils without the necessary facilities would be writing the same examination with others well equipped to study.

He said the Hlihave Basic and JHS were established by the community, which was later absorbed into the public school system, but unfortunately, over the past 42 years, it was only the community that continued to support the school, as the people tried to provide local classroom blocks for the pupils with thatch roofing, which most often did not last long.

Mr. Awudzi pointed out that the community members were worried about the conditions under which their children study under trees, from the KG to class six, with the JHS students using a pavilion provided by the community.

According to the spokesperson, the government had decided not to respond to the numerous pleas made for a better school infrastructure and provision of good access road to the community to aid easy movement of goods and services, particularly, during the rainy season, as the current poor road to the town becomes difficult for the transportation of foodstuff to market centers.

He stressed that the most painful aspect of the situation was that under their deprived conditions, politicians always visited them to make promises of providing their needs, particularly, the ruling government, since it was clear to them that the community members always vote for the NDC, and just after the elections, these politicians would not visit them again, until another election was getting closer.

Mr. Awudzi said it was very clear to the youth that the NDC never thinks about their welfare, but was only interested in the votes the party would get from the people, hence the demonstration to make it clear to the government that the 514 qualified voters would not participate in the 2012 general elections if it did not show any interest in the developmental activities of the people.

He disclosed that because the people of Adaklu- Hlihave had no electricity, they travelled to Mafi-Kumase community in the North Tongu District, a distance of three kilometres, to charge their cell phones at the cost of 50p, while the community made contributions and purchased electricity poles for the electrification project, but the refusal of government to provide electricity to the community had resulted in the situation where some of the poles were getting rotten.

One of the teachers at the Adaklu-Hlihave basic schools, Mr. Emmanuel Logosu, said lack of classroom infrastructure was making it very difficult to ensure effective teaching and learning, because the school environment alone was not attractive for the pupils, and demoralised the nine teachers in the school.

Mr. Logosu explained that the community had provided thatch buildings for the school, which had deteriorated over the years, compelling them to hold classes under trees, and that anytimethat the rain threatens, the school would be closed down.

He added that as a result of the condition, the school scored 23.5 percent at the last Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).

He said due to lack of classroom infrastructure in the school, four trained teachers accepted postings to the school, together with four pupil teachers and one National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) teacher, and disclosed that some of the teachers were even planning to leave.

Mr. Logosu, therefore, appealed to the government to come to the aid of the community by providing them with the needed classroom infrastructure, as well as other social amenities that would attract teachers to the school.

Mr. Logosu further observed that the District Assembly had provided a number of dual desks for the pupils in the school, which was commendable, but at the same time, not helpful, because even though the pupils needed the desks, it was of no value if there was no decent classroom block for them to study, as well as to keep them safe.

“As you can see for yourselves, these dual desks would remain under these structures, and whenever it rains, it affects themt as well as the effect of the sun which would definitely reduce its lifespan, and let us not talk about the inconvenience teachers go through any time it rains while in school,” he bemoaned.

When contacted, the Adaklu-Anyigbe District Chief Executive, Mr. Michael Adzaho, admitted that the community lacked classroom infrastructure and other facilities, but gave the assurance that the government was putting in place measures to provide the needed school infrastructure for the school through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETfund), and called for patience, since there was well designed plan to tackle the development needs of the community.

Mr. Adzaho also said government had also introduced the School Feeding Programme in the Hlihave School as part of efforts to promote education in the area, stressing that it was not true that the government had neglected the people but that to initiate such development projects called for time and patience.

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