…as disabled volunteer teacher seeks help.
The Naro English and Arabic Junior High School (JHS) in the Nadowli/Kaleo District of the Upper West Region is still being managed by volunteer teachers as the Ghana Education Service (GES) is yet to post teachers to the school.
The school, which started as a community-owned school but was absorbed by GES in 2012, only received teacher postings for the primary school but the JHS is still under the management of volunteer teachers taken care of by the community.
A physically challenged volunteer Mathematics and Information Communication and Technology (ICT) teacher in the school, Razak Kombangye, has appealed for corporate and benevolent support to provide the needed teaching and learning materials for the school.
He emphasised how any support in the form of teaching and learning materials such as computers and laptops, as well as textbooks for the school would help talent development.
According to him, the school’s primary infrastructure was put up by members of the community through a ‘communal labour’ exercise. They later rented an uncompleted structure to be used as the JHS in 2009 with volunteer teachers.
However, in 2014, the GES adopted and posted teachers to the primary school but has yet to post teachers to the JHS to date.
Mr. Kongbangye, a 33-year old physically challenged volunteer teacher who completed St. Martins SHS in the year 2014 but due to financial difficulties could not continue, is also seeking scholarship or funding support to further his education at the college of education to become a professional teacher.
With a childhood dream of becoming a professional teacher to train and develop the talents of children in his community, Mr. Kombangye has not been able to afford a tertiary education to pursue his dream career but is using his Senior High School education to impact lives. However, the absence of relevant educational materials is impeding his efforts.
He is therefore seeking external support to provide extra classroom materials for the school, as well as scholarship opportunities to further his education at the college of education to achieve his dream of becoming a professional teacher.
“Though you can see me in my wheelchair teaching, I am not a trained teacher, I am just a Senior High School (SHS) graduate sitting in the house doing nothing while my younger brothers in the JHS suffer due to the failure of trained teachers’ acceptance to teach in the rural community.
“This has led to the inadequacy of teachers in the school rendering the future of the young ones bleak, and since I also have the knowledge to impact with the passion for teaching, I decided to help the school. But all that I need now is to get a helper to support me to go through the formal training to become a professional teacher from the college of education,” he said.
The school is currently having only seven teachers including the headmaster, handling academics from kindergarten to primary six with a pupil population of 225.
The physically challenged volunteer teacher’s situation is not any better as the wheelchair he is using is also over 11 years old.
Mr. Kongbangye believes his disability should not hinder him from becoming what he wants to be; hence he is appealing to the general public to step in and assist achieve his life dream of becoming a professional teacher.
