OKESS old students unhappy with encroachment on school land

April 19 (page 29)
Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
Old Students of Osei Kyeretwie Senior High School (Ahenemma) have expressed concern about the continuous encroachment on the school’s land, saying such activities are seriously undermining the expansion of the school as well as effective and efficient teaching and learning.
They pointed out that in spite of a court ruling against any form of encroachment on the land, some traditional authorities in the Kumasi metropolis are “ acting in concert with big people in high circles of our society to steal the school land”.
The old students have therefore called on the Board of Governors of the School, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Ghana Education Service, as well as traditional authorities in the Kumasi metropolis, the Ashanti Regional Security Council (RCC) and the law enforcement agencies to collaborate as a matter of urgency to stop further encroachment on the school’s land.
This, they said, would enhance the rapid expansion of the school to accelerate effective and efficient academic programmes.
The President of the association, Dr Kwabena Poku Adusei, who made the allegation on behalf of the members as part of their 70th anniversarycelebration stressed that the continuous encroachment on the school land, coupled with the inadequate infrastructure in the school were undermining effective academic work.
He wondered why Osei Kyeretwie Senior High School (OKESS) “ was left out of the upgrading of the one school in each district programme” initiated by the GETFund administrator.
He said the GETFund had been beneficial to some districts, because whilst more than two schools in some districts benefited from it, OKESS , which was running two campuses with its attendant academic and social problems, never benefited.
He said while the school was still facing the problem of limited educational facilities, its boys dormitory was “ razed down by fire last year to further compound their problems”.
Dr Opoku Adusei pointed out that OKESS could only recapture its enviable position as it was about 30 years ago in an atmosphere of peaceful co-existence by all interested groups, such as the teachers, administrators, the general staff, the board of governors, students and the parents teacher association.
He, therefore, urged such groups to collaborate effectively to enhance the development of the school.
He said it was equally important for the government to upgrade the sports infrastructure of the school to enhance the development of sports.
He explained that “OKESS is the only school that contributed two footballers to the Black Stars during the recent World Cup, and the Ghana 2008 tournament, in the persons of Sulley Ali Muntari and John Mensah, and in athletics, Vida Anim has also played an important role to market the country at the international level”.
“ OKESS has contributed immensely to the development of sports in this country that we deserve upgrading of sports facilities in the school, including a befitting sports stadium”, he stressed.
He pointed out that inadequate support by the government to provide the school with the requisite facilities was undermining the development of both academic work and sports, saying, “ we insist that both academic and sporting activities can co-exist, but our fortunes have fallen drastically within the last few years”.
He said over the years, the old students had
contributed immensely to the development of the school and mentioned a three classroom block estimated at GH¢30,000 that they handed over to the school in 2006 as some of the projects the old students had donated to their alma mater.
He said they were still collaborating to support the school in diverse ways to accelerate its development, and therefore urged the government and other stakeholders to assist them in that direction.