ADVERTISEMENT

Hundreds of pupils stranded as two schools fight over building

Pulse Ghana's Portia Arthur investigates a disagreement that has left the education of hundreds of primary school pupils in Kokrobite hanging in the balance

The education of pupils of Bokemi Academy and  Kokrobite M/A Primary School hangs in the balance due to an ongoing dispute over the relocation of pupils from Bokemi Academy.

A month into the educational calendar and pupils are still aimlessly loitering about in the community instead of being in school.

It’s a sensitive situation. The community is divided. The elders in Kokrobite and the Ghana Education Service are calling for a shift system between two sets of pupils from the Kokrobite M/A Primary School and the Bokemi Academy to allow teaching and learning to take place.

However, the pupils and stakeholders of the Kokrobite M/A Primary School are vehemently against embracing their counterparts from Bokemi  to share their facility.

ADVERTISEMENT

How did it all start?

Bokemi Academy was originally started by a German who wanted to curb the alarming level of illiteracy in the community. He handed the facility over to government  when he left the country. Years later he is back to reclaim his property because of poor maintainance.

The outcome of a routine inspection by the District office of the Ghana Education Service also indicated that Bokemi  Academy is no longer habitable by both pupils and staff and therefore the need for relocation.

After deliberations by  Government representatives, chiefs, school heads and Parent and Teacher Associations, three possible solutions  were proposed. The first being a relocation of the private facility to a new government structure built for the school. The second solution was  distributing the  pupils to all the government schools in the community, and the third was for  Bokemi Academy to share  Kokrobite M/A Primary School facility with a shift system introduced to accommodate the large numbers.

Authorities of Bokemi pushed against the first solution for proximity reasons, so the third solution was adopted.

ADVERTISEMENT

Standoff

Currently  pupils and staff of Bokemi Academy have left their original facility but Kokrobite M/A primary school is refusing to accept them unto their compound.

Pulse Ghana has learned that school authorities of Kokrobite M/A primary school were not consulted before the agreement to allow Bokemi share the Kokrobite M/A facility was reached

When Pulse Ghana got to the campus of the Kokrobite  M/A Primary School, the staff was on strike to protest the new directive, flouting an order by the District Director of Education to  commence the arrangement.

The Headmaster of Bokemi Academy also told Pulse Ghana they were sacked from the school when they showed up to implement the shift system.

ADVERTISEMENT

“They said the structure can’t accommodate all the pupils. But will you allow your child to walk that far (to the new government structure) just to access education? What wrong have they done? Are they not Ghanaians too? Before they get to school, they are already tired. Won’t it affect their education? Our Director went there and said the children just can’t walk there; the place is on the very outskirts.”

A member of Kokrobite M/A school Council  Jackson Otabil, explained to Pulse Ghana why they are refusing to accept the new arrangement.

“The government wants to run a shift but we don’t want it. The other school (Bokemi) has a land which has a school building and even the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) handed over the keys to them to relocate there. But they are saying the school is too far.

By running a shift at the Kokrobite M/A Primary school, the children will be going to the shore. When you ask them, they will say they are going to morning school, or they are going to afternoon school, and before you know it, vices like teenage pregnancy will set in. So we don’t want the shift system.

The MCE said they are going to erect canopies for the children to study under at their old premises or at this place but if they put canopies here, where will the pupils go for assembly?”

ADVERTISEMENT

He further complained that the Kokrobite M/A Primary School premises is already full and cannot accommodate more pupils ,“There are no empty classrooms here to accommodate more pupils,” he said.

Some pupils of the Kokrobite M/A School who spoke to Pulse Ghana revealed that their parents are not aware of the shift system, neither were they informed by their teachers.

A pupil of the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gravely lamented that the shift system is set to cause many problems in the future.

“Most of the children will not come to school. They will always either go the beach or help their parents at home, while some will also take advantage to do bad things,”  the student said, “Teaching and learning will be disorganised. I wonder how we are going to write exams. Are we going to write together or follow the shift system. The second batch to write the exams will always get the questions before they write their paper. In fact, I just don’t like the shift system.”

Another member of the Kokrobite M/A Primary School Management Committee, Martial, who has been making donations regularly to the school seems to hate the shift idea too.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We have a situation with the kids running shifts. Even with the normal school system, kids don’t come -  and we are in fact still trying to solve that situation - and now they’ve brought the shift system.

The Assemblyman for the Kokrobite Saka Allotey is however shocked by the posture of the Kokrobite school authorities.

"They had three alternatives; the kids going to Langma, they going to government schools closer to them or they running shifts for two terms with the Kokorbite School. And the chiefs agreed to the shift system. As an Assemblyman I don’t entirely control the internal affairs of the assembly. The GES, chiefs and all authorities have agreed to the shift system for two terms but I don’t know why the children are loitering about. The Headmaster of Bokemi School informed the Directorate that they went to the Kokrobite School and they were sacked,”

The education of hundreds of school children from  Bokemi Academy and the Kkrobite M/A Primary School hangs in the balance until the GES finds a resolution to this issue.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT