Abrenya Primary School urgently needs teachers

Akwabuoso (E/R), May 20, GNA - The Circuit Supervisor for Kwabeng in the Atiwa District of the Eastern Region, Mr Yaw Sarpong, has appealed for government's intervention to resolve the precarious staffing situation at Abrenya R.C. Primary School that has only one teacher taking charge of 27 pupils.

He said without an immediate intervention the future of the pupils would be bleaker.

Mr Sarpong said it might help posting pupil teachers under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) to the school since trained teachers sent there quickly desert the place. He made the appeal when the Deputy Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment and the Member of Parliament for the area, Dr Charles Brimpong Yeboah, paid a working visit to Akwabuoso. The Birim River cocoons Abrenya and there is no bridge across the river, a situation that makes teachers reluctant accepting postings there.

Mr Sarpong said his office and the community leaders nominated some town folks who meet the NYEP criteria to assist in the staffing situation, yet despite repeated appeals, nothing has been done. He said the situation at Abrenya was special and would require quick intervention such as providing a bailey bridge over the river and the construction of a feeder road to facilitate the movement of the people. Mr Sarpong said the situation becomes worst when the river overflows its banks, compelling travelers to crawl on stumps of logs to cross it or take a winding detour through dense thickets that non-natives find taxing.

Dr Yeboah expressed regret at the situation more so when the new district had been granted a special dispensation to employ over 150 NYEP teachers when other districts were only permitted to hire 75. He assured the people that quick action would be taken to ensure that the education of the pupils was not unduly disrupted. Dr Yeboah, who sat through a Parent/Teacher Association meeting of the Akwabuoso Basic schools, pledged five million cedis towards roofing of the town's primary school.