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24.01.2007 Education

Fate Of Ajumako Pupils Hangs

24.01.2007 LISTEN
By Daily Graphic

The hope of children at Gomoa Ajumako in the Gomoa West District to have basic education will be dashed if government does not come to their aid immediately.

This is because, the only school in the town, Ajumako D/A Primary 'C' School, does not have enough classrooms for the pupils to continue after primary three.

Currently, if authorities are unable to put up additional classrooms by the end of this academic year, the pupils in Class Three cannot move to the next stage, meaning an end to their education.

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Chairman of the school, Mr Issa Arhin, who briefed the Junior Graphic when reporters visited the district, said the community had sent a letter to the district assembly for assistance but nothing had been done.

He said the community was ever prepared to offer land and any form of assistance to ensure that additional classrooms were built to enable the children to continue with the education even to the secondary school level.

Explaining the reason for the school not having enough classrooms since its establishment in the 1970s, Mr Arhin, who was flanked by some community leaders of the town said the school, for a very long time served as the JSS block for pupils of the town and that of Gomoa Ankamu, their neighbouring town.

Ankamu on the other hand had the primary school block that pupils from both towns attended. However, for a very long time, Ankamu asked that the JSS be transferred to their town.

After several appeals to the then Omanhene of Gomoa Ajumako and the district assembly failed, their request was finally granted last year. Hence all pupils from Gomoa Ankamu have been withdrawn from the school.

He said when that happened, parents from Ajumako also had to withdraw their wards attending primary school from Ankamu although they did not have enough classrooms.

For that reason, the JSS block was converted into classes one to three with the hope that by the end of this academic year, the community would be able to put up additional classrooms to accommodate pupils moving on to class four.

Meanwhile, when Junior Graphic visited Gomoa Ankamu, it learnt that they also did not have a permanent classroom for those in JSS who were withdrawn from Gomoa Ajumako.

They have, therefore, converted three classrooms that serve as Classes 4b, 5a and 6a for the basic school into a JSS block.

Currently, pupils in the affected classrooms study in a Mosque, the Roman Catholic and Musama churches.

The headmaster of Ankamu/Ajumako D/A Basic Schools, Mr James Koranchie Aidoo who also doubles as the head of the school at Gomoa Ajumako confirmed the story.

He explained that the community had to withdraw their pupils from the school because, the distance from Ankamu to Ajumako was far.

Story by Augustina Tawiah

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