The star of the sea is gone – GNAT
The Keta-Anloga branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) is calling for urgent actions from the government to make basic education accessible to children at Fuveme after the only school there got destroyed.
Tidal surge over the weekend collapsed the Fuveme R.C. Basic School, also known as “Star of the sea,” in the infant Anloga District leaving just two classrooms for use for the about 230 pupils and also destroyed some school materials including; desks and textbooks.
The branch Secretary, Mr Korku Mensah Awuye speaking to the Ghana News Agency during a visit to the school said the government must act fast to remedy the situation as the people’s “star of the sea is gone.”
He said the situation where pupils from Kindergarten 1 to Junior High School (JHS) form 2 were crowded in one classroom to allow those in JHS 3, Basic Education Certificate Examination candidates to occupy the remaining classroom for their preparations was appalling.
“Fuveme R.C. Basic School, the star of the sea is gone. There are just two classrooms left for the entire population of the school. How can effective teaching and learning go on? I understand this is the third location of the school and this has happened again. We need an urgent lasting solution to these tidal waves problem which is a sea defence wall.
The first school building with facilities including; a headteacher’s bungalow and the immediate structure are now several nautical metres into the sea through the sea devastation in 2015-2016.
That is why relocating the school or moving pupils to a nearby school at Attiteti which requires pupils walking for about 50 minutes will not be a good option.”
An elder of the community, Dumega Moses Tana Akorli who now lives in a structure made of coconut fronds after his main building was washed away by the coastal flood said protection against the sea remained the only option and not relocation.
“The sea keeps pursuing us. This is more or less, a ritual. This community is actually Agorkedzi because Fuveme does not exist now. It has long been washed away by the sea. Without a sea defence wall, the sea will take all these communities currently facing this devastation and continue till it wipes away others along the coast. Who knows what it’ll do after coastal Volta is no more? It must be stopped.”
Source: GNA