For years, 80 pupils squeezed into one classroom with no desks and no water.

Learning meant leaving class to fetch water or giving up entirely for illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

Eighty pupils. One teacher. No furniture. No water. For years, Babuh Ernest, a science teacher at Bugbelle Basic School, has watched children struggle to learn.

“Enrolment is very high, and we don’t have enough furniture. It’s very difficult for a teacher to manage their class. Even movements become a big issue,” he said. “Water is also a problem. Students have to leave school to drink water.”

Member of Parliament for Sissala East, Mohammed Issa Bataglia, says the conditions pushed many children out.

Some abandoned schools for galamsey pits. Others joined the exodus south to Accra and Kumasi.

"Our young ones leave for Accra, Kumasi, and galamsey because classrooms are not conducive and not attractive. Today GPMS is giving us 80 to 90% of the solution,” he said.

On Thursday, June 18, under the Bugbelle sun, the story shifted.

The Ghana Petroleum Mooring Systems (GPMS) led leaders and community members to cut sod for a new school block. They came with pickaxes and shovels, not just speeches. GPMS chose Bugbelle deliberately. Despite over 800 children in the school, 80 pupils were packed in each of the classrooms. Yet parents kept sending them to school.

“We chose Bugbelle because of 80 students in one classroom, yet the community is still committed to the school. That’s a future worth investing in,” GPMS OFFICIAL Glady Ofori posited.

The project is ambitious: nine fully-finished classrooms, a 10-unit toilet, and a mechanised borehole.

Construction is expected to take six months, with handover set for December 2026.

For Nayong Bilijo, Board Chairman of TOR, the project is about more than bricks.

“The GM said it best: these children, these innocent souls, are the reason we are doing this. Not for ourselves, but for the future,” he said.

Sissala East MCE, Adamu Yakubu Cadet, urged the community to protect the project.

“This will reduce pressure on existing classrooms and improve sanitation. When the contractor comes, give them your support so the work is completed on time,” he said.

From one crowded room to a room for hope, GPMS and Bugbelle’s message is simple: own it, protect it, and fill it with the future of Ghana.