By Emmanuel Mafelah,mafelahemmanuel29@gmail.com
Palala, Liberia- Students at the Yanquoi Bee Senior high school in Palala, Liberia’s central Bong County have not only been attending classes under a leaking roof, but they are closing the academic year writing their final exams under the same condition.
Palala is in, Kpaii district and students in other parts of the country have been enduring similar condition, with some lacking chairs and have to sit on bricks in classes, with no help yet in sight for them.
According to the report, students of the School, a government run institution in the Bong County, are attending classes under unbearable conditions key amongst which is a leaky roof.
An annex to the Yanquoi Bee Elementary and Junior high school was dedicated in the County in 2013. The project which casts more than one hundred, fifty three thousand United State dollars now gives the school a high school status.
The teachers are finding it extremely difficult to teach, especially during this wet season.
“The school has a very huge enrollment of over 1,000 students and for them to learn under such circumstances is not healthy for our modern society,” one of the teachers told this Paper on condition of anonymity.
The school’s roof has been damaged for many months now, and no one from the county leadership or the Ministry of Education (MoE) has bothered to repair it, the teachers added.
The teachers further said that the situation has put the students’ safety at risk, “and so the building must be repaired to protect it from eventual collapse before the next academy school years.”
Meanwhile, some of the students, who have no option but to sit under the leaking roofs are reportedly developing strange diseases.
“Authorities at the MoE are yet to take the necessary measures to arrest the situation or to clear the accumulated water atop the school,” some disenchanted students told our Bong County correspond.
A teacher in the school who described the situation as worrisome, said it could hinder quality learning since the MoE has up to date shown no concern.
Our reporter further said, MoE authorities had earlier spoken of the need to provide furniture, computers, textbooks, library, toilet facility and supply potable water in order to have a conducive learning atmosphere for schools going kids.
At the same time, parents and students have called on the county leadership as well as the MoE to arrest the situation during the rainy season.
Education authorities who were reached by this newspaper in the county expressed regret about the situation, but said plans are under way to renovate the schools.
They did not say when the repair work will commence.
Recently violent storms damaged several buildings in Gbarnga and surrounding
including residences and school buildings, among them the Dorothy Cooper, John
Flomo Bakalu Junior High Kpatayamah Schools amongst others being the worst hit.
Meanwhile, authorities of the school has urged the Ministry of Education to provide the necessary capacity for the smooth operations of the school.