Memji Agric SHS cries for help

Menji Agric Senior High School (SHS), one of the few agricultural SHSs in the Brong Ahafo Region, is in dire need of infrastructure and logistics to help encourage more students to offer agricultural programmes.

The school’s three vehicles, ISUZU Pick-up with registration number GV 5904 C, Mahindra Pick-up with registration number GV 526-12 and Eicher Bus with the registration number GV 64-11 all have broken down.

The school, located in the Tain District, was established in 1993 to train students in agriculture science from the districts, but due to its dilapidated nature and lack of adequate tutors to teach in the school, most parents do not send their children there.

It is mostly patronized by students from the three northern regions of the country.

The headmaster of the school, Gabriel Ofosu Mensah Ofori, revealed this when the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Tain, Charity Akua Foriwaa Dwommoh, embarked on a tour of the district to ascertain the development needs of the communities as part of her 100 days in office.

Currently, the school can only boost of 259 students with most of them offering biology, chemistry, agriculture and animal husbandry as result of the lack of trained tutors to handle the subjects, according to the headmaster.

The school also lacks science laboratories for practical work.

Mr Mensah Ofori blamed the situation on the lack of classrooms, teachers’ accommodation and hostels facilities for the students who come from afar.

“For the situation to improve, the school must be turned into a boarding institution with facilities to accommodate students and tutors from far and near so that we inculcate the spirit of agriculture in them,” he stressed.

According to him, performance at the WASSE was nothing to write home about but since he took over performance it has improved.

Ms Dwommoh, after accessing the situation at the school, promised that government, through the district assembly, would make it one of its priority schools and provide dormitories, kitchen and dining hall to boost enrollment.

She said students of the school are also going to benefit from the free SHS policy of the government.

Ms Dwommoh promised to liaise with district education office to post more science tutors to the school to teach science courses.