As they marked Ghana’s 69th Independence Day celebration, it was all smiles for pupils of Accra New Town Experimental 1 Junior High School in Accra.

The school emerged winner of the marching parade competition organised by the Ayawaso Central Municipal Assembly.

But behind the excitement and applause lies a daily struggle that continues to affect teaching and learning in the school.

Students and staff say the absence of ICT and science laboratories has made it difficult to conduct practical lessons, forcing teachers to rely on projected demonstrations instead of hands-on training.

For many of the pupils, the victory at the parade was a moment of pride, but it did little to take their minds off the challenges they face in the classroom.

A teacher at the school, Bridgit Edinam, explained that the lack of laboratory facilities has limited the ability of teachers to properly demonstrate practical concepts to students.

According to her, practical lessons that should ideally take place in laboratories are instead projected for students to observe, a situation she says affects their understanding of the subject.

“For practical lessons, I mostly have to project the demonstrations for students to see because we do not have ICT and science laboratories,” she said.

Students like Ferdinard Owusu Nyarko and Manuela Vanderpuye also complained about inadequate classroom furniture, saying some learners are forced to cope with limited chairs during lessons.

“We don’t have enough chairs in some of the classrooms, and the metallic windows make the rooms very hot during lessons,” one of the students said.

Despite these challenges, the school continues to strive for excellence, as demonstrated by its victory in the Independence Day parade.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Ayawaso Central, Rudolph Collingwoode-Williams, who attended the event, acknowledged the concerns and revealed that plans are underway to secure libraries and laboratories to improve learning conditions in schools within the municipality.

He added that the assembly is working to address infrastructure challenges in schools and appealed to the government and other stakeholders to support efforts aimed at improving educational facilities.

For the students of Accra New Town Experimental 1 JHS, the hope is that the same attention given to celebrations and competitions will also be directed at improving the conditions under which they learn.