When the Bosomtwe District Assembly completed all arrangements to commence the construction of a 6 unit classroom block at Apinkra, the community breathe a sigh of relief. Teaching and learning activities have been hampered by the deplorable state of an old classroom block in the community for years. The situation was so dire that the school always closes in the event of a downpour. Some children who have been relocated have to commute under unfavorable conditions to bordering communities to access education.
When the STAR Ghana supported project ‘promoting citizens’ participation, inclusion and accountable local governance’ began in the district, the classroom project at Apinkra was selected as one of the capital projects to be monitored under the project. The project was implemented by Centre for the Development of people (CEDEP), a Civil Society Organization (CSO) in Ashanti region. Through the project intervention, capacities of selected community volunteers were built to monitor the project and regularly engaged the Assembly on any issues identified. The community volunteers had two objectives. One was to ensure project quality and the other was to facilitate the timely completion and commissioning of the project for use.
The community volunteers played a lead role using community scorecard to assess the performance of the Assembly in the execution of the classroom block. Citizens during monitoring and scorecard generation on the project, pointed out some quality concerns that necessitated a community interface meeting. Citizens used action plan developed out of the issues identified to engage with the Assembly. Reporters from the community also reported to the Assembly through the SMS voices platform facilitated by STAR Ghana under the project for the Assembly to act swiftly on the issues.
The attention of the works sub-committee of the Assembly was drawn to the issues. The committee conducted monitoring to confirm the complaints lodged by the citizens. These actions led to the construction of a disability access ramp on the 6 unit classroom block which was originally not part of the project design. Additionally, the contractor was ordered to remove all doors and windows with defects and re-fix them.
Considering that the old classroom block posed as a threat to both pupils and teachers, the community stakeholders engaged the Assembly to expedite action to commission the new classroom block. Citizens as a matter of urgency unroofed the old block when the school was on vacation after the Assembly promised to commission the new classroom block in September 2019. Some citizens donated mono desk in addition to what the Assembly provided to furnish the new classroom block.
Now, teaching and learning activities at Apinkra have improved after the 6 unit classroom block was commissioned in September 2019. Citizens are happy that the Assembly has addressed all their concerns raised on the classroom project. Children who hitherto were commuting to school in the bordering communities have remained in the community to pursue their education.
Samuel Barfi Adomako, Apinkra community secretary indicated that: ‘’we are happy that our involvement has yielded the needed results. Parents were worried about their children anytime they went to school. Now teachers and pupils feel safe to continue teaching and learning activities. What is even more refreshing is that the new classroom block is accommodating Primary 1 up to Primary 6 pupils while the old block could accommodate Primary 1 up to Primary 4 pupils. I have learnt that as citizens we have to change our attitude and take interest to visit project sites and ensure that projects built are of good quality.
