A two-week power outage at Chereponi, in the North East Region, has put final-year students preparing for the WASSCE in a precarious situation, threatening their studies and exam preparations.
According to a news report by Channel One TV, the prolonged power outage, caused by the district being cut off from the power grid, is adversely affecting students.
The headmaster of Chereponi SHS, Fuseini Mohammed, expressed his frustration over the power outage, lamenting its severe impact on the performance of the students.
According to him, the outage has created significant challenges for the school, causing major activities to come to a halt. "The absence of the power is so huge that I cannot even quantify it.
Right now, nothing is happening in the school because there is no light.
We don't use the lights for studies only, as everything depends on the light.
Our grinding mill cannot function, we had to go outside to mill and the amount they are charging we can't afford. "The other time we had to come back with our grains.
We have a mechanized borehole but because there is no light, there is no water.
Our students have to go in search of water during the day time.
The time they could have been using to manage to study, they are using it to look for water," he lamented.
He further stated that the school has only one manual borehole, which does not provide enough water to serve the entire student population and the school. "We have a manual borehole just behind my house.
Students only manage to get a gallon of water after spending one hour.
The student population is 794 so imagine all of them going to one borehole," he added.
He noted that the school's generator, which was used before the national grid was installed, has malfunctioned due to prolonged disuse.
Sharing their struggles, students mostly affected by the power outage appealed for assistance to their current situation. "We are on our knees pleading with some of the stakeholders in Chereponi to come to our aid.
We are candidates and what we are facing may even affect us in the exam," the report added.
The cause of the outage has yet to be identified.
MAG/AE