Heads of some Basic Schools in the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipality and the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis (STMA) of the Western Region have appealed to the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) to construct speed bumps and pedestrian crossings on roads where schools are located.
This, according to the school heads, would help address the worrying frequent vehicular knockdowns of pedestrians crossing the road to and from school.
Although they could not immediately provide figures on the number of pupils knocked down, they expressed great worry over resultant fatalities including; deaths caused by speeding vehicles plying those portions of the road, especially from the Anaji-bypass and the Takoradi-Tarkwa Highway.
Proprietor of the Benstha Preparatory School in Assakae, Ben Alorzuke recounted that school attendance went down whilst drop-out rate increased since school children feared to cross the road to school unaided.
He further lamented that the schooling period of other victims were also interrupted due to long periods of hospitalization and recuperation at home.
Mr Alorzuke expressed great dissatisfaction about students’ absenteeism especially, during the Novel Coronavirus, where parents were contemplating whether to send their children to school or not.
He complained about fruitless efforts to relevant authorities to address the challenge and called on the city authorities and stakeholders in the road safety arena to assist in expediting prompt action to save the worrying situation.