Dr. Stephen Minlah and Dr. Kumi Kintoh, both senior staff members at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, along with Lawyer Adelaide Kobiri from the Attorney General’s Department and the vocal Member of Parliament for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, are just a few of the prominent figures who received their basic education at Okomdom MA School in Sefwi Wiawso, located in the Western North Region.
These individuals, along with many others both within and outside Ghana, who have excelled in their various fields, arguably owe much of their success to the solid educational foundation they received at Okomdom.
Established in 1993, Okomdom MA School quickly rose to become one of the most populated and prestigious schools in Sefwi Wiawso.
Attending this school was considered a privilege. It boasted a dedicated, enthusiastic, and professional teaching staff, which helped it achieve exceptional results in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and earn various awards.
However, the past decade has seen the school lose its luster and ability to produce the next generation of distinguished students comparable to Mintah Akandoh, Dr. Minlah, and others like them.
For current students whose dream is to become “names of social repute,” the journey ahead seems daunting, if not already lost.
The school has not undergone any structural improvements despite repeated calls for urgent action.
The roofs of many parts of the school have been ripped off; windows are shattered; and a significant number of furniture pieces are damaged. As a result, some classrooms have had to be abandoned.
“Now, instead of having an A and B class stream, we have only one, as students have been forced to merge into a single class,” Edith Nketsia, a former student, told visiting journalists about the school’s plight.
With continuous neglect and worsening conditions, teachers became demotivated and eventually left for other areas, as have many students.
Nevertheless, Edith Nketsia and a group of other former students are defying the odds.
For years, they have been striving to turn things around.
“It has not been easy. Every day presents a new challenge. If it’s not the rain pouring through the perforated roofs, we are either trying to ward off animals or struggling to maintain what little school property is left due to a lack of security,” Edith said.
“It breaks your heart to see how the students struggle with their sanitary needs, especially the girls when they are on their period. Due to the absence of sanitary facilities, some girls have to go home and never return,” Edith added, with tears in her eyes.
After teaching four subjects in two classes, Edith is exhausted but only has a ten-minute break to rest, which she uses to prepare for the next class.
Despite this, she smiles and says, “I’ve made a solemn promise to help turn the tide.”
We met Manso Adjei, a Mathematics teacher, drenched in sweat and mopping his brow in the middle of a lesson.
He was taking the students through ‘Algebra’.
The class listened attentively as he explained while writing equations on the board.
Two girls, who had no furniture to use, were crouched on the floor, with their books writing; occasionally they will stand up to stretch, dust off dirt from their books, elbows and uniform.
This is their daily routine. Once in a while, other students are magnanimous and will take turns, and share their furniture with them.
Row by row, the students took turns answering his questions for the next thirty minutes.
He sighed deeply and explained how challenging it is to break down simple equations for the students to understand.
“We are facing severely dwindling student numbers. To counter this, we accept students from all backgrounds, many with results I would rather not repeat. Teaching them has become a Herculean task. But this is what we signed up for, so we cannot complain,” he said.
“The motivation is that the students themselves are aware of the constraints we face and continue to show a commendable zeal to learn. So we keep going, each day.
“But how long we can keep this up before our patience runs out is only a matter of time,” he added.
The school bell rings, and the students file out of the classroom; the school day is over.
One by one, they spoke of their future ambitions.
“I want to be a nurse, so I can take care of the sick children in this community; I want to be a successful businesswoman and provide financial assistance to my school whenever needed; I want to be a top scientist to help solve the galamsey menace.”
But they know these dreams could be shattered if the current challenges facing the school persist.
“We have heard that Okomdom has produced some great people. So we are pleading with them to come together and help the school.”
They believe that when conditions at the school improve, more qualified teachers and administrators will be willing to accept postings there and help elevate the standards.
Until then, Edith and her fellow former students fear Okomdom MA School may not exist in the next decade and appeal to alumni to “look back and come help their alma mater; it would be sad if they could no longer point to their basic school in the years to come.”
