Parents Threaten To Withdraw Pupils From Antem School In Cape Coast Over Flooding

Some parents of pupils in Antem M/A Basic School in the Cape Coast Metropolis have threatened to withdraw their children from the school if the perennial flooding in the school is not resolved.

According to the parents, the infrastructural decay in the school was affecting effective academic work, particularly after torrential rains.

Mr. Nathaniel Mensah, a parent in an interview with the Ghana News Agency who was in the school to pick up his ward home, said the situation was so bad after Tuesday’s rains that the school was forced to close.

He described the school as a ‘swimming pool’ and a disaster in waiting, adding that, anytime it rained the worn-out roofing sheets leaked badly, while the compound was filled with craters of lakes.

“The school is facing a lot of challenges including flooding, leaking roof which makes it difficult for the pupils to study when it rains.”

To compound the situation, the GNA observed that the National Health Insurance Authority was building its offices inside the school’s compound, blocking the flow of rainwater with erosion from the highlands gathering in the school which has no gutters.

“There are no gutters to channel the stagnant water to the main drains,” Mr. Mensah lamented.

Ms. Comfort Aba Egyir, a parent, also pleaded with the Metropolitan Assembly to go to support the school as many of the children were from underprivileged families across the Metropolis.

She said the children needed the support of all to acquire better education to grow up to become responsible adults.

Some pupils appealed to the Government to move in to address the situation that was hampering effective teaching and learning, and disturbing academic activities.

“Whenever it rains, our classrooms leak profusely due to the old nature of the roofing sheets. Entrance to our classrooms becomes filled with huge mud preventing us from moving out.

Sometimes the flood enters our classrooms to disrupt academic activities. School authorities say they have informed the government about the infrastructural decay in the school but to avail,” one student retorted.

Source: GNA