Hundreds of boarding students of Adankwaman Senior High School in the Assin South District of the Central Region have been forced to eat their daily meals under the shade of trees due to the collapse of their dining hall.
As the academic year presses on, the students are not just working tirelessly for grades, but for dignity in education amid failed promises to fix the ruins.
Just about ten metres from the dilapidated structure, the students huddled under makeshift tree canopies for every meal, breakfast, lunch and supper.
The arrangement had exposed them to the scorching sun, sudden rains, dust and swarms of insects from the nearby bush, which could affect their health due to food contamination.
According to Nana Baffour Adjei XI, the Headmaster of the school, the sad spectacle had persisted for months amidst the growing plights of students and teachers.
He said the loosely hanging walls of the school were a stark symbol of the school’s decaying infrastructure that threatened academic progress and the safety of more than 1200 students.
The Headmaster made this disclosure when he received Nana Okofo Kwadwo Bi Benti II, Chief of Assin Darmang and the school’s Board Chairman, along with some Parents-Teachers Association executives, to assess the infrastructural needs of the school.
The meeting coincided with a visit to the school by Dr Richard Kofi Asiedu, Central Region Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and an indigene of the area.
According to the Headmaster, the school, established 43 years ago, had relied on mud-built structures, many of which had deteriorated over time.
He said the situation had exacerbated the infrastructure crisis, which he traced back to a ferocious rainstorm on Saturday, June 15, 2024, which ripped off the roofing of the main dining hall.
Subsequent storms in October 2024 and heavy downpours in April 2025 worsened the damage, with winds tearing away remaining structures and flooding the facility, he indicated.
Despite efforts by Mr Jonathan Birikorang, the District Chief Executive, Ghana Education Service and some benevolent people to salvage the dire situation, no significant work had begun, with the once functional hall becoming an eyesore.
During the tour, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) observed even graver scenes of an open shed just ten feet from a surviving classroom block, where cooks prepared meals for the entire student body over open firewood fires.
Amid urgent pleas for basic hygiene in preparation of meals at the school, the ramshackle kitchen, fuelled by cracked firewood, billowed acrid smoke into the air.
There were no screens, no barriers, no mercy as swarms of flies danced freely across countertops, possibly feasting on raw ingredients and landing with impunity on the very food destined for hungry students.
It was obvious that the situation, if not contained, could turn every meal into a potential health hazard.
Some students who pleaded anonymity in separate interviews outside the school premises narrated how sometimes thick smoke billowed directly into nearby classrooms during lesson hours, forcing teachers to pause sessions, open windows amid choking haze and persistent coughing fits among students.
A female student lamented, “The smoke makes students’ lives difficult. The school’s academic life hangs in the balance.
“We always rush our food to avoid rain or heatstroke, but it affects our concentration in class,”
Affirming the students’ concerns, the Chief of Darmang decried a surge in intrusions by some people, who had turned the premises into a thoroughfare due to the lack of a perimeter fence wall that had made it difficult for the school’s few security guards to control the influx.
He said: “Some people I’m told blast music from vehicles, loiter during school hours and even harass students.
“This is a sad situation that could create chaos, disrupt lessons and instil fear.”
Dr Asiedu, in a brief remark, pledged the government’s support for the school and queried how students continued to defy unimaginable odds under flimsy makeshift structures nearly a year after the disaster.
On behalf of the school, he appealed to the government, philanthropists and the public to go to the aid of the school.
