A private property situated in the middle of the Madina SDA Primary and JHS has come under severe scrutiny, as authorities of the school have raised red flag about its continuous existence and the risk it poses to the pupils during school hours.
Activities of occupants of the private property such as cooking, pounding fufu, burning of charcoal and vehicle movements among many others, The Chronicle understands, undermine learning as the pupils are mostly distracted from their curricular activities.
All attempts to get the challenge posed by the existence of the private residential facility, including its relocation, have proved futile.
Reacting to the issue at stake, the Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the school, Isaac Addo said the issue has become an albatross on the neck of the school, appealing to the government through the Ministry of Education to intervene.
“We have petitioned the La Nkwantanang Municipal Assembly to inform them that the private residential property on the school’s compound is posing a challenge for the school in terms of safety, security and health-wise.
“The reason is as occupants of the private property generate waste, they don’t have any place to dump it, so they litter the compound and their septic tank is also defective.
“In fact, we don’t want the Akoto Lantey tragedy to repeat itself over here in La Nkwantanang. If you take all these into consideration, then it is high time we take this private property off the compound of the school”, he noted.
He explained that an Legislative Instrument (L.I.) establishing the school allocated the entire land for the school project, even though the said property was on it.
However, in order to make peace with the owner of the said private property, the SDA Church offered to relocate the facility, but the owner did not agree.
However, he said it was about time the government intervenes, considering the growing population of the school, which demands the building of new structures to accommodate more pupils.
“We have the numbers but in terms of infrastructure, we are deficient. We are running the shift system in the municipality, which is not good. This means that we are losing a third of the contact hours because people are running from 8am to 2pm and we are doing 7am to 12pm. So, the shift system is not helping the situation. If we are able to improve on the infrastructure in the municipality, then it will improve education outcome”, he asserted.
He then appealed to corporate bodies, philanthropists and individuals to assist the school to expand.
The Head of the La Nkwantanang Municipal Education Directorate, Kean Adjei Appiah, commenting on the issue confirmed receiving a petition from the Madina SDA Primary and JHS, highlighting the challenge they were facing as a school.
Corroborating claims made by Mr. Addo, the Municipal Education Director noted that the issue has been pending for long and acknowledged that it was about time they relocate the private property, considering the growing population of the SDA School.
“The land was acquired by the government through an L.I. and it was the SDA Church that assisted in putting up that public school. As the school grows, it is important to expand its building infrastructure. Therefore, it is about time that private property is relocated. This issue has been in court before and I am told the court ruled in favor of the SDA Church”, he posited.
He added “I have written to the Assembly about this issue and they are yet to respond to it. I will make a follow up to know what they are doing about it. Education is a public service that benefits everybody.
“So, anything that is meant for public good supersedes any private interest. Therefore, once the school is growing and in the interest of public good, the owner has to accept the relocation of the residential facility else the children will continue to suffer”.
By Stephen Odoi-Larbi
