Ada Pupils Sell Salt to Buy School Desks

Teachers and pupils at Kportiste Kope basic school in the Ada West District have decided they could no longer wait on the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ada West District Assembly to supply them with desks for their pupils, and have retorted to winning salt to raise funds to buy the school some classroom furniture.

Since the establishment of the school in 1994, the pupils have had to bring their own chairs to school, while some sit on stones and on the bare floor. The school, which has a population of about 500 pupils, have seen little refurbishment as authorities seem to have given it little attention.

A 2012 GET FUND project which was to alleviate the suffering of the poor pupils have also stalled. Left with no option, the teachers, led by the headmaster Mr. Joseph Alimo, constructed three classrooms in other to accommodate the increasing student population.

To worsen the plight of the pupils, in 2016, The Lord of Mission Church, which was serving as one of the classrooms collapsed, forcing the teachers to lump some of the classes together.

Currently, the major challenge faced by the 24-year-old school is how to get chairs for the school, especially KG’s 1 and 2, as they are the worst affected.

Authorities say several knocks at the doors of the Ada West District Assembly for help also yielded no results.

The teachers and pupils, realising help was not coming from the government, went into salt winning where they were able to raise an amount of GH¢1600.00 for the construction of nine (9) dual desks.

They again undertook a fund-raising exercise on Sunday, December 2, 2018 where they gathered an amount of GH¢4,700.00 to buy standard desks for the KG schools.

Headmaster Mr. Joseph Amartey Alimo, who said one standard KG desk costs GH¢450.00, is still appealing to both parents and benevolent organizations to come to the aid of Kportitse Kope Basic School.

By: Daniel Akpaloo Nyorngmor