Osu Salem JHS In Deplorable Condition
The Osu Salem Junior High School is in a deplorable condition, posing danger to lives and property following many years of neglect.
The two-storey building built by the Basel missionaries on November 27, 1843 has not seen any major rehabilitation since its establishment.
This has raised much concern by members of the community in which the school is sited. The authorities of the school have, therefore, called on organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and public-spirited institutions to come to its aid.
Originally known as the Osu Salem Middle Boys’ Boarding School, the facility is the oldest existing boarding school built by the Basel missionaries.
The main building housing the school was abandoned in 1986 following a directive from the Ghana Education Service (GES) in view of the its state of disrepair. It formerly had six classrooms housing Middle Forms 1 to 3, a library, a office, among other facilities.
It presently has five classrooms built by the Presbyterian Church across the main building and has 245 students. The school used to have seven dormitories, but due to lack of renovation, three of them have been abandoned, leaving four.
The school, since its inception, has produced a large number of personalities who have in one way or another, contributed greatly to the development of the country.
They include Sir Charles Quist, the first Speaker of the Legislative Council (now Parliament); Justice Nii Armah Ollenu, also Speaker of the Legislative Council, and Prof C.O. Easmon, the first Dean of the University of Ghana Medical School.
Sources at the school told the Daily Graphic that although the parent-teacher-association (PTA) and the old boys were working towards renovating the facility to bring it up to standard, the school welcomed the support of other organisations.
It said although letters had been written to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to act in putting the building in good shape, nothing had been done to that effect.
When contacted, the Accra Metropolitan Director of Education, Nii Okaidja Dinsey, said even though his outfit had sent a list of schools that needed renovation to the AMA, nothing had been done.
“It looks like the work is too big for them,” he emphasised. The Director of the Klottey Korle Sub-Metro of the AMA, Mr Noah Tumfo, when contacted, said renovation or project of such nature was carried out by the Metro Works Department at the assembly’s head office.