Wulugu Senior High School Cries For Infrastructure

From Edmond Gyebi, Wulugu
A VISIT by The Chronicle to the Wulugu Senior High School in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region has revealed an array of problems undermining the quality of teaching and learning in the school.

Established some 20 years ago and first headed by Joseph Karimu Nachina (late), the school has seen very little or lethargic improvement, especially in the area of infrastructure.  A closer look at the school brings nothing but complete discouragement to students who enter the Wulugu SHS for the first time.

With huge population of 1,835 and 52 teaching staff, the Wulugu SHS can boast of only 27 functioning laptop computers, out of the 40 supplied by the government under the better Ghana computer project.

It is, however, unclear why government has failed to fulfill its promise of providing every Ghanaian student with a laptop (one student one laptop).

Even though Ghana is now touting herself as an ICT revolutionary country, it appears highly satirical when hundreds of SHS students struggle to have access to only one laptop computer, without table and chairs.

The Headmaster of Wulugu SHS, Mr. Amassah James Sena at the 20th Anniversary of the Wulugu Project, a charity organization co-founded by the first headmaster,  the  late Joseph Karimu Nachina, said  there was the need for him to “cry the cry of the Wulugu Senior High School” – since the occasion had assembled almost all the key stakeholders in the district.

According to him, the School after 20 years of existence has no administration block and offices for management and staff. He regretted the distance between his small undeserving office and that of the Assistance Headmaster and the Senior Housemaster was alone an enough discomfort.

The Headmaster said that the School was also faced with inadequate classrooms. This is because the same structures which were in existence before the school was converted into a boarding school still remains the same, thereby, creating serious congestions and discomfort among students and tutors.

The Wulugu SHS also has no deserving dining hall and well-furnished enough to accommodate the large number of students.    The Chronicle gathered that majority of the students sit on pavements to eat or have to send their meal to the dormitory, since there are inadequate table and chairs.

In fact it was an eyesore to see hundreds of male students housed in an abandoned classroom as their dormitory.  The said dormitory is not plastered, painted and has no louvers. There is also heavy congestion in the dormitory.

The Headmaster, Amassah James Sena also complained about the lack of transport for the students and management. He passionately appealed to the government to take a critical look at the infrastructure in the school and give it the needed boost to ensure quality teaching and learning.

In a quick response, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for West Mamprusi, David Wuni appreciated the concerns raised by the headmaster and assured him of government's commitment to develop the school.

According to him, the Wulugu SHS was built by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government in the 1990s and had been upgraded into a boarding school by the same NDC government some three to four years ago.

Mr. Wuni was, therefore, optimistic that the government of President John Dramani Mahama would not relent on its efforts at providing the necessary infrastructure and other logistics for the school.

He said that the Wulugu SHS had been earmarked by the government to benefit from the 300 new school buses recently launched by President Mahama and it would soon arrive at the school.

The DCE noted that ICT education was one of the topmost priorities of the current government and promised to forward the concern raised by the headmaster for the supply of more computers to the relevant authorities for consideration.

Mr. David Wuni, who is one of the pioneers of the school, encouraged the teachers in the school to offer their best to the students; while government also works around the clock to address their challenges.