Management of Kanton Senior High School (KANSEC) in the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region has appealed for urgent support to address shortages in teaching staff, ICT facilities and infrastructure.

The appeal comes despite recent government interventions, including the expansion and renovation of the school’s dining hall and the ongoing completion of its kitchen.

‘Only one trained Chemistry teacher for whole school’

The Headmaster of Kanton SHS, Mr Mahamudu Zakaria Savei, described the staffing situation at the school as dire, particularly in the sciences and languages.

“We have just two teachers taking Physics in the whole school, and even one is not in his area; he is not trained for Physics, but we just have to bring him in to cover that vacuum that has been created. Chemistry is the same, and for some years now we have only one trained teacher for Chemistry, and that has been the challenge,” he lamented.

He disclosed that about five teachers would leave the Ghana Education Service this year, while transfers were also creating additional vacancies at the school.

According to him, the number of non-teaching staff, particularly kitchen staff, had also declined following retirements without replacement.

This, he said, had forced the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) to engage casual workers from outside the school to help prepare meals for students.

School struggles with inadequate ICT facilities

On ICT, Mr Savei said the school’s classrooms were not adequately equipped to support the implementation of the new curriculum.

“We need projectors that we could project whatever we are doing to make it more participatory for the students, but we don't have these gadgets. The gadgets there [in the ICT lab] are actually obsolete, and the numbers too; they are not enough, so we have to always do shifts,” he stated.

The Assistant Headmaster in charge of Academics, Mr Samuel Aburiya, also expressed concern about the state of the school’s ICT facilities.

“When I say we don't have a befitting ICT lab, we have something small to rely on, but it's not adequate. We have some computers that are now obsolete,” he said.

He disclosed that the school sometimes had to borrow personal laptops from teachers to enable students to take the ICT practical examination during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

“During examinations where we have to write practical ICT as an elective subject, we sometimes would have to appeal to colleagues, I mean teachers, who have laptops to assist so that we give them to the students so that after the examination we return them to the teachers,” Mr Aburiya added.

Poor roads, furniture shortage

Mr Aburiya also highlighted the deplorable condition of the school’s inner-campus roads, a shortage of furniture and the lack of renovation of some old structures dating back to the 1960s.

“The roads are terribly bad... Erosion has taken place... No vehicle can pass through,” he lamented.

He said the condition of the roads was affecting movement within the school and required urgent attention.

Management acknowledges government support

Despite the challenges, management expressed gratitude to the government for recent interventions, including the expansion and renovation of the dining hall and the ongoing completion of the kitchen.

However, management appealed to the Member of Parliament for Sissala East, the Upper West Regional Minister, the Minister for Education and the President to prioritise the school for further support.

The school said that addressing the staffing gaps, improving ICT facilities and rehabilitating its internal roads and other ageing infrastructure would help create a better learning environment for students and improve teaching and learning.