BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – The Grand Bassa Community College has confirmed that the college will operate on the Bassa High School campus for the upcoming academic year. This move comes as authorities failed to repair a damaged bridge or build alternative routes to the college’s campus.

The confirmation was made on Tuesday by the college’s dean of student affairs, Matthew Davies.

Heavy rains in July had caused the collapse of the bridge, forcing the college to relocate its vacation activities to the Bassa High School Campus on Tubman Street in Buchanan.

Dean Davies said the administration held a series of meetings with the Bassa High School administration to allow them to operate at the campus for one academic year. He added that the college is also working with several high schools in Buchanan to also accommodate them, including the Buchanan Open Bible School, Christian High, and Seventh Day Adventist High school.

“All of the various campuses will be used by the college after school hours from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at least for our students in the meantime until the bridge or the back road is fixed,” he told The Bush Chicken.

He explained that Bassa High School will be used as the college’s main office while classes will only be held at the other campuses. At the Bassa High School campus, classes will begin at 6:00 p.m. and last until 10:00 p.m.

Davies said some of the high schools have already agreed and discussions are still ongoing with others. He expects registration to begin next week.

The college is expected to graduate students by December and any delay in opening this academic year could cause a setback to that plan.

The college recently announced a campaign to raise US$1.5 million to rebuild the bridge to its campus. At the request of Grand Bassa’s Sen. Jonathan Kaipay, a team of engineers sent by USAID had also assessed the damage to the bridge and examined the possibility of using an alternative back road.

The college was established in 2008 and operated at the Bassa High School campus for years before relocating to its newly constructed US$2.2 million campus in 2016.

Featured photo by Sampson David