By Sarah Ofori
To provide a safe environment that awakens learners consciousness to Godliness, patriotism, morality, discipline, higher personal and academic goals and so on reads the mission statement of the Nifa Senior High School. Yet the environment in parts of the school is a stark contrast of what is expected. The Osuodumgya Otutu Ababio boys dormitory of the Nifa Secondary school is in a dilapidated state. The two-storey dormitory which has been named after the Akwapem Nifahene and paramount Chief of Adukrom, Ahunabobrim Osuodumgya Otutu Ababio at a glance, does not seem habitable yet it accommodates five hundred and forty male students who have no choice than to endure the piteous environment.
The Nifa Secondary School is a second cycle institution in the Eastern Region, with most of its students coming from Accra, Koforidua, Adukrom, Cape Coast among others. It currently has a population of 2883 students and 134 teaching staff. This is the state of a two-storey male dormitory named after the Akuapem Nifahene and chief of Adukrom, Ahunabobrim Osuodumgya Otutu Ababio, who himself was once student of the Nifa Secondary School in the 1980s. In just thirteen years after the students were compelled to occupy the rather incomplete facility, the building is in dilapidated state with no part of it rehabilitated. From the ground floor to the second floor, one cannot help than to notice the alarming levels of deterioration of the facility, putting the students at risk. From cracked walls, to exposed electrical cables from the metres, torn nets, rotten windows frames without Louvre blades, dirty surroundings, weak bunk beds, leaking roof among others. Each of the rooms has a maximum of thirty students crammed in the space allotted. Some rooms didn’t have bulbs, and others had switch with exposed electrical cables. The balustrade on the stairs are weak and paint on the walls worn out. The risk these pose to the students cannot be underestimated especially so when the weather is cold.
Learning about the woes of the students following his enstoolment as the Nkosuohene of Adukrom Nana Kwabena Larbi Williams known in Private Bishop Dr. Kevin Williams felt obliged to change the narrative.
Adjacent to the block is a stalled hostel which begun five years ago. Since assuming office in 2023 the headmistress has made many unsuccessful attempts to the Ghana Education service, the Ministry of Education and the Parents Teacher Association as well as Philanthropists to intervene. Moving on to inspect the bath and washrooms a stark revelation awaited. The water used by the students is hard, for which reason some of the students have developed skin conditions. Some students resort to open defecation because of the unconducive atmosphere at the KVIP. Our cameras spotted a student who had to undress prior to using the facility to avoid the stench in his clothes. In the rainy season both the students and staff are weary of snake and scorpion bites.
In the absence of an assembly hall, authorities improvise using the dining hall as suitable space. Confirming what the headmistress said earlier the classrooms are inadequately resourced as some students either sit on benches or perch beside their colleagues during lessons. Being an agronomist himself and a cocoa farmer the Akwapem Nifahene and Chief of Adukrom Ahunabobrim Osuodumgya Otutu Ababio couldn’t help it but to interact with some Agric Science students who were harvesting pepper, offering them some useful tips in the process. His vision is to see his subjects and town prosper under his tenure.
If a student is hard pressed to use the washroom there are no such facilities attached to the classroom and the student are compelled to take the flight of stairs to the dormitory area to ease themselves. Due to the free SHS the students are scheduled to come to school in turns since the schools facilities cannot accommodate all three year groups.
