DEWEIN, Bomi – Ahead of the start of a new academic year, learning for students at the Beh Town Public School in Bomi is being seriously threatened by the shortage of teachers and the lack of conducive school infrastructure.

The junior high school, with an enrollment of 332 students, operates in a three-classroom building constructed by the Norwegian Refugee Council and a three-classroom makeshift annex constructed last year by the community, which currently hosts nine classes (K-1 to seventh grade). The annex was poorly constructed using local substandard materials and is not conducive to learning because of its congestion and dilapidated condition.

A previous school, also constructed by the community as a temporary structure to host the students, had collapsed before the current building that is already falling apart.

The school’s principal, Adama Sando, said that since 2016, when he first took the assignment there, the institution has only had four teachers and has not received grant support to improve the infrastructure. Despite the condition, Sando said the school has been earmarked to be elevated to a senior high school as it is the only public learning institution for 18 surrounding towns and villages.

“This year, we had an enrollment of 332, but it has been one of the challenging years for us. The issue of [a] better learning environment is our major problem right now,” he said.

“Look at this building that we are hosting the people we call future leaders. It is very deplorable. This is some of the reasons teachers do not want to come here.”

He said the school currently combines two classes into one classroom to accommodate students up to the junior high level. He worries about how the school will continue to operate in the coming academic year.

However, Sando said the school administration, community members, and some local officials began constructing another annex to host classrooms. However, the project is still far from being completed due to limited funding.

“This school has not received even a grant from anywhere, and we are not collecting a dime from any student,” the principal said. “We have cried and gotten tired, no support. You see what we have started doing over there? We really need that building completed. That is the classroom building we have initiated as a community.””He wants the government, especially members of the Bomi Legislative Caucus, to muster the courage and invest in improving the school’s infrastructure to help kids residing in that part of the country acquire education.

When contacted, Bomi’s third district representative, Sam Jallah, in whose district the school is situated, vowed to lobby for resources to help rescue the institution.

Rep. Jallah called on the Ministry of Education to use a portion of its annual budgetary allotment to resolve some of the ccountry’seducation ssector’s many constraints, especially in addressing poor school facilities.

““he issue of dilapidated school structure is not only unique to Beh Town alone, but we are going to [pressure] the government to improve the sector,””he said.

““ust to let you know, the budget that was sent to us for the MOE in the draft national budget was increased in the final by US$5 million. We did that because we want these major educational problems [to] be solved.””Featured photo by Richard Williams