Gumani Nuri Islamic School Needs Help

Alhaji Abdulai Harruna Friday, Tamale Mayor

AUTHORITIES AT the Gumani Nuri Islamic Primary School in the Tamale North Constituency are likely to close down the school which is currently in a devastating state after the recent rainstorm disaster that hit the school and some parts of the Tamale Metropolis.

The Lives of the children in the school are in extreme danger as their school is now serving as “death trap”.

The Nuri Islamic Primary School is one of the few schools that were affected by the recent rain storm that led to serious flooding and loss of human life and other properties. 

The whole six unit classroom block with three offices and stores was completely ripped-off by the rain leaving most of the ceilings dangerously hanging. 

At the time Savannahnews visited the school, the pupils were still being forced by their authorities to take classes in the same dangerous looking classrooms. Some of the classes had lost their ceilings and the children studying in the direct sun. 

Meanwhile, it is almost three weeks now since the disaster occurred, yet the Nuri Islamic Primary School has still not received any attention from NADMO or the authorities at the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly. The children and their teachers are at the mercy of the weather and are compelled to run home anytime it threatens to rain.

So how does it feel to study in completely devastating structure with damaging ceilings? “In fact I told my mother that I will not come to this school again because when we sit in the classroom, we cannot look into our books and my eyes always pain me because of the sun. Sometimes too the wind will blow and the ceilings begin to shake as if it is about to fall. Now our masters say we are going to write our exams so we should not stay at home but me I am afraid, one Primary 4 pupil, Abu Emmanuel complained to this blogger.

A Teacher in the School, Madam Abdul Rahaman Adishetu told Savannahnews that the current nature of the school building had made teaching and learning more difficult, since both pupils and teachers could not concentrate whenever there was a severe wind.

She did not understand why the Ghana Education Service and the Metropolitan Assembly had not yet ordered for the temporary closure of the school.

The Headmaster of the Gumani Nuri Islamic School, Mr. Abdul Rahaman complained that his request to the Ghana Education Service to temporary close down the school before any catastrophe befell the children, had not received any response yet. According to him, even though the children were to write their terminal exams in a week’s time, the school ought to be closed down since it posed serious danger to the lives of both the pupils and teachers. 

The Headmaster expressed the fear that it would be very expensive for the authorities to allow the building to trap the children, rather than renovating it, and thus called on the Mayor of Tamale, Alhaji Abdulai Haruna Friday to come to the aid of the school.

All efforts to speak with the Mayor of Tamale proved unsuccessful but the Assemblyman for Gumani, Mohammed Awal Zakaria could not comprehend why the Nuri Islamic Primary School had still not received any attention from NADMO or the Metro Assembly.

According to him, the Tamale Mayor personally visited the school to inspect the level of damage but had not yet seen the need to salvage the situation.

The Assemblyman promised to assist the authorities of the school to plant trees around the school to serve as wind breaks.