Agate SHS cries for adequate teaching and learning materials

A thirty-eight-year-old second-cycle institution in Afadzato South District of the Volta region with an increasing student population has no befitting facility that will accommodate the learners and enhance academic success.

The school located on sixty-nine arches of land donated by the Chiefs and the people of Agate only has an 18-unit classroom block situated at the center of the land which is currently been used for both administration and teaching activities.

According to the Headmistress of the school, Ms. Benedicta Amata Agbezudor, Agasec has numerous challenges, some of which are hindering teaching and learning in the school.

Infrastructure Challenges

She mentioned that "The school is in dire need of additional 18 unit classroom block, Administration block, 18-unit dormitory block each for boys and girls, 300 capacity Assembly hall complex and kitchen, staff accommodation, furniture for classrooms, staff, dining hall and offices, duty post vehicle, place of convenience, sickbay and fence wall" around the school's land.

She also lamented on inadequate accommodation for staff on campus. She said, the head and assistant headmasters' bungalow has been converted into a dormitory for female students while the male students are forced to use old dilapidated blocks in the Agate township as a dormitory, which is about 2 kilometers away from the campus.

The school also has no proper facility for kitchen and storerooms including a dining hall. Cooks in the school are forced to use a dilapidated wooden structure as a kitchen and whenever it rains, the facility becomes unfriendly.

Teaching and Non-teaching Staff

The Headmistress revealed that, although the school has a strength of teaching staff, the non-teaching staff is not adequate, saying "recruitment to this section of the school is sadly inadequate, with our current population, the kitchen should have at least four cooks but we only have one cook. The problem goes for ground workers, security and driving departments too" she noted.

Successes chalked by Agasec

Ms. Agbezudor said in spite of the various challenges, the school excels in West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations over the years.

She also revealed that Agasec won the first position in the Choreography concert, 2020 organized by High School Tv Crew, they also chalked the first position in Dressing, Drumming, and Dancing in 2016 inter-school Music and Culture Festival.

The school also won the first position in sporting activities in the region in 2013, 2018 as well as chalking success in the inter-school quizzes in the Afadzato South District.

Ms. Benedicta Amata Agbezudor noted this on Saturday, 6 November 2021 during a Speech and Prize giving day celebration held in the school on the theme "Science and Technology; A vehicle for National Development"

The celebration was organized to raise funds for a flagship project for the school, a modern Science, I.C.T Laboratory, which the Headmistress said will go a long way to enhance teaching and learning of science and technology.

Speaking at the event, Togbega Adom X of Agate revealed that the school nearly collapsed in 2015 due to low enrolment but the government's Free Senior High School initiative "has saved the school from collapsing".

The Chief, however, commended "Past Ghanaian leaders and the current Nana Addo led government for working collaboratively to see through this great initiative that has revived our dear Senior High School"

On the side of the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the Afadzato South, James Flolu, the needs of the school will be considered before the close of 2024.

Albert Gooddays

(The kitchen is the Wooden Structure, the foundation is an admission block started in the year 2000 still at foundation level, the roofed facility is an abandoned girl's dormitory project)