Story by Dennis Bebane and Jacob Booyere
Management of Takpo Senior High School in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region has expressed worry over poor infrastructure at the school. The 16-year-old school is still operating in an old Junior High School (JHS) 6-unit classroom block without a dormitory, forcing management to convert the old primary school into a dormitory.
The headmaster of the school, Isaiah Domonaamwin Tienaah, said the infrastructure deficit is hindering teaching and learning, leading to poor academic performance.
Takpo Senior High School, which is located in the Nadowli/Kaleo District of the Upper West Region, was established in January 2010 as a private community day senior high school. It was later absorbed by the government in June 2013. The school operates in an old JHS 6-unit classroom block and has a student population of 176. Management of the school has acquired 50 acres of land, awaiting infrastructure to be built so the school can fully move there. The school offers General Arts, Business, Home Economics, and Agric.
The headmaster of the school, Mr. Tienaah, said the school is facing several challenges which discourage new students from coming. He called on authorities, stakeholders, and benevolent organisations to come to their aid.
Placing a premium on water, the Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association (P.T.A), Ebenezer Toglayeng, bemoaned abandoned mechanized boreholes at the old and new sites of the school that are not operational. “We are facing a lot of challenges. Accommodation is a very big problem; we have been using one of the old primary schools for the boys and another one for the girls since 2010. Teaching and learning materials too—we don’t have any of them,” he noted.
Some students shared their frustrations amid the infrastructure crises: “We walk two kilometers to access water, the ceilings leak during rains, our entertainment hall is under a mango tree, and some classrooms have been turned into dormitories. Some classrooms have no bulbs, so we carry our chairs outside to sit under the street lights,” they lamented.
Meanwhile, the assembly member for the area, Hon. Martin Maana Nimbiyobo, said he has raised several concerns about the urgent infrastructure needs of the school, yet his efforts have not yielded any results.
