The cluster of public basic schools at Asuofua in the Atwima Nwabiagya North District of the Ashanti Region has suffered a twin disaster involving a rainstorm and a fire outbreak, resulting in severe disruption to academic activities.

According to GBC’s Nicholas Osei-Wusu, who visited the affected schools, the fire—believed to have been sparked by thunder—destroyed essential teaching and learning materials. In addition, classrooms, particularly the Block ‘D’ KG, have developed dangerous cracks, with parts of the roof torn off, posing a serious threat to both pupils and staff.

The Asuofua D/A Cluster of Schools comprises four streams of pre-school, primary, and junior high schools, serving more than 5,000 pupils from Asuofua and surrounding communities. However, the infrastructure, dating back to the 1970s, has seen little renovation over the decades, leaving the buildings extremely vulnerable to weather-related damage.

This is not the first time the schools have been hit. Two years ago, several classrooms collapsed and others had their roofs ripped off during a similar storm. Although the then Member of Parliament, Benito Owusu Bio, re-roofed parts of the facility, some completely damaged structures remain unrepaired.

In the latest incident, the entire roof of the JHS Block ‘A’ was ripped off, forcing students to conduct lessons under trees. The attached Teachers’ Common Room also caught fire during the storm on Monday, December 1, 2023, but the quick response of teachers who were meeting after school prevented further destruction.

The KG Block of Block ‘D’ is now considered a high-risk structure, with visible cracks and partial roofing damage.

Headmistress of the JHS Block ‘A’, Mrs. Charity Nseibo, expressed concern over the safety of both staff and pupils, noting that the current conditions are unfriendly and disruptive to effective teaching and learning.

Asked how safe the children are, Mrs. Nseibo responded, “We don’t feel safe. We’re in the hands of God.”

“We don’t have any options. Students are now under trees and the teachers are also under trees because there’s no place for them to sit. When we realize it’s going to rain, we’ll close them to go home,” she said.

The twin fire and rainstorm have occurred at a time the schools are preparing for their end-of-term examination in a week’s time.

The affected classes have been compelled to learn under trees, even as the rains have set in after the short dry spell.

The Atwima Nwabiagya North District Director of Education, Frank Duah Boateng, who had visited the school to familiarise himself with the disaster at the time GBC arrived, expressed serious concern about the inadequate support from major stakeholders of the school in addressing the challenges and the bad state of the buildings, which he noted is partly responsible for the recurring disasters.

“The structures, you can see for yourself, are a little too old. The school was built in the 1970s and now caters for an enrolment of 5,000, and we need some renovation in the school, at least to change the old roofing and strengthen the ones we can. If we renovate it, it would help us prevent the occurrence of such situations,” the director suggested.

Among the property destroyed by the twin disasters are attendance registers, English and mathematics textbooks, pupils’ workbooks, lesson notebooks, pupils’ notebooks, and classroom furniture.

The Headmistress, Mrs. Charity Nseibo, appealed to all stakeholders to come to the aid of the school urgently to save the situation.

“Now we don’t have any options than to call on all and sundry to come and help,” she appealed.

Already, some of the classes are experiencing extreme congestion, with some accommodating as many as 92 pupils instead of the standard 45 per class.

Incidentally, a two-storey classroom block initiated by GETFund, whose construction started about five years ago, has been abandoned and has now been taken over by weeds.

The education authorities are appealing to the government to complete the project to address part of the overcrowding to guarantee quality teaching and learning at the school.