Saabisi primary school in Kassena-Nankana receives facelift

Correspondence from Upper East

Renovation of the lower primary block of the Saabisi primary school at Natugnia in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality has begun.

Work is underway to fix the deplorable building which was posing danger to the pupils and hampering effective teaching and learning.

The renovation is being undertaken by the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly, with labour from members

Read full articleof the Saabisi community, as part of efforts to provide a safer environment for the pupils to enhance teaching and learning.

Last week, GhanaWeb reported the challenges of the school which included its dire need for classroom furniture and the frail school block.

The report detailed how the frail classroom block had become unsafe for the pupils and how they laid prostrate on the bare floor of their classrooms during contact hours.

The report, which was filed by GhanaWeb's Upper East Regional correspondent Senyalah Castro, went further to expose how the lack of furniture was taking a toll on the pupils who found it difficult to grasp lessons.

The furniture challenge, the report added, also affected the pupils' handwriting, thereby undermining effort by the teachers.

Moses Azabre, one of the teachers told GhanaWeb in the report that: “the major challenge here is the furniture, the classrooms, and the windows. The children find it difficult to write. Looking at the way they are sitting, even if you give them something to write, it will take them more than hours to finish. These are pupils who have gone through KG to this level but they cannot even write. It’s not that we are not teaching them, we are teaching them alright, we are following the order but the situation is bad”.

Municipal Chief Executive for the area, William Aduum, who visited the school upon the reports gave assurance to take immediate action to address its difficulties. While he made the effort to procure cement, sand, and stones for the renovation, he immediately dispatched some desks to the school to weed out the furniture problem.

A week after the working visit by the MCE, masons have moved to the school to carry out repair works on portions of the damaged building, particularly the broken classroom floors.

When GhanaWeb visited, floors of the classrooms were been excavated for reconstruction. It was a joint effort by the mason and members of the community. Arrangements had been made for pupils in the lower block to pair with their colleagues in the other classrooms while the work is carried out.

The masons have been tasked by the MCE to complete the renovation on time and pay attention to quality.