“We Have No Doors, No Toilets, No Furniture” – Amadum Adankwame Methodist Primary School Teachers Lament
The deplorable state of the Amadum Adankwame Methodist Primary School in the Atwima Nwabiagya South District of the Ashanti Region has sparked outrage among teachers and residents, as they cry out for immediate government intervention and support from benevolent individuals and organizations.
Teachers at the school say they are forced to operate under unsafe, unhealthy, and dehumanizing conditions that undermine effective teaching and learning. The school, which serves hundreds of children in the Amadum Adankwame community, lacks basic infrastructure, including classroom doors, toilets, urinals, proper roofing, and even furniture for both pupils and teachers.
“We have no doors, no toilets, and no furniture,” one frustrated teacher told reporters. “Our pupils sit on broken desks or on the bare floor, while we, the teachers, have no proper chairs or tables to work with. When it rains, the leaking roofs turn classrooms into ponds.”
The situation is made worse by the absence of a fence wall, leaving the school exposed to intruders, especially during the night. Teachers complain that some miscreants from the community, described as “town boys,” often turn the school into a den for immoral activities after dark. According to them, these individuals enter the compound to smoke, loiter, and sometimes even defecate in classrooms.
As a result, teachers are left with the unpleasant task of cleaning up human waste and other filth before teaching can begin each day. They say the current condition poses serious health and safety threats to both students and staff.
Mr. Stephen Osei Akoto, a concerned member of the School Management Committee (SMC), expressed dismay at the neglect and deterioration of the school’s facilities.
“It is heartbreaking,” he lamented. “The poor nature of the school doesn’t speak well about the community or the future of the children. The classroom blocks and all the roofing have been damaged, and when it rains, it becomes very difficult for teaching and learning to continue.”
He added that the lack of a perimeter fence further exposes the school to theft and vandalism, stressing that urgent steps are needed to restore dignity to the school and protect the children’s right to quality education in a safe environment.
Teachers and community leaders have reportedly made several appeals to the Atwima Nwabiagya South District Assembly, the Ghana Education Service, and other relevant stakeholders, but their calls have yet to yield tangible results.
They are now making a passionate appeal to philanthropic organizations, NGOs, old students, and concerned citizens to come to their aid by helping to renovate the school, provide desks and furniture, build decent toilet facilities, and construct a fence wall to safeguard the school from further abuse.
Until then, the staff and pupils of Amadum Adankwame Methodist Primary School will continue to endure the harsh reality of trying to learn in a place many say resembles anything but a school.
