Severe rainstorm destroys 13 schools, affects 3,290 people in Bongo District - MP calls for emergency support to fix affected schools

A severe rainstorm that hit Bongo District in the Upper East Region has ripped off the roofs of 13 basic and senior high schools as well as destroyed many houses and electrical installations.

The incident, which occurred last Monday around 5:30 p.m., has disrupted teaching and learning in the affected schools, displaced many residents as well as plunged some communities into darkness due to the destruction of many electricity poles.

The affected communities included Beo Nayire, Beo Tankoo, Beo Nayikura, Lembiisi-Moshi-Daboro, Sapooro, Wagliga and Dua Kantia. Others were Dua Aguntin, Dua Yikine, Old Mission/Atinganne, Lungo Social Centre area and Apogbia Market Square. The rest are Galagrom, Gowrie and Vea Gonga.

The affected schools were Awaa Primary School, Anafobisi Primary School and Kindergarten, Tarongo K.G. Tankoo Primary School, Nayikura Primary and KG, Atampintin JHS and Reverend Father Lebel Primary School.

The rest are Gowrie SHTS, Zorkor SHS, Tindomboko KG and JHS, Dua Primary School, Kantia Primary and JHS and Wagliga nurses’ quarters.

Displaced

A total of 3,290 residents made up of 586 males, 770 females and 1,934 children have been heavily affected as a result of the rainstorm.

The current state of the Dua Yikine Basic School after the rainstorm.

In the same vein, 902 people made up of 178 males, 254 females and 470 children have been displaced while two persons also got injured.

Also, teaching and learning materials including pupils’ exercise books have been destroyed.

There are no classroom blocks available to enable academic work to continue in the schools which has forced many of the pupils to abandon school until the schools are rehabilitated.

In the meantime, authorities of some of the schools have been compelled to hold classes under trees and in other available public spaces such as church auditoriums with its attendant consequences on academic activities.

Visit

During a visit by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bongo, Charles Bawaduah, accompanied by the District Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), John Ankoh, and other officials last Wednesday to assess the situation, the Daily Graphic observed that the situation was very worrying and needed to be addressed as quickly as possible.

John Ankoh (hand stretched), the Bongo District Director of the GES, explaining a point to Charles Bawaduah (right), MP for Bongo, during a visit to Dua Yikine Basic School

With barely a month left for the second term to end at the basic school level, the schools need to be fixed so it does not disrupt the academic calendar of the schools.

Overwhelming

Speaking in an interview after touring the facilities, Mr Bawaduah said as the MP for the area, he would start fixing some of the schools but indicated “Owing to the overwhelming nature of the incident, additional support is needed from organisations to tackle it.”

He described the destruction of the schools and other properties as devastating and traumatising for the school pupils and residents and added that there was a need for urgent support to put the classroom blocks back to their previous state to bring relief to the teachers and pupils.

“Sadly, children in the majority of the schools between now and the period they get fixed have no place to continue with academic work,” he said, stressing “I want to urge institutions capable of providing support to help in rehabilitating the schools.”

Further, he appealed to the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO), to immediately take action to restore power supply to communities which had experienced power cuts due to the rainstorm.

Temporary classrooms

The GES District Director, Mr Ankoh, said the directorate had arranged for some of the school pupils to have classes under trees, on church premises and in other public spaces to enable academic activities to continue.

He disclosed that marker boards would be immediately procured to facilitate academic work in the makeshift structures and other places, saying “Our intervention is to ensure that academic work is not disrupted.”

The Assembly member for the Anafobisi Electoral Area, Hannah Talata Asanyuure, made a passionate appeal to corporate bodies to come to the aid of the school in the area as it had its share of the destruction.

Some school pupils, Christopher Abane and Samuel Abugre, in a chat, appealed to the government, non-governmental organisations and benevolent individuals to come to their rescue.

Writer’s email: gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh