The inauguration of a reconstituted 13-member Board of Governors for Hohoe Evangelical Presbyterian Senior High School (HEPSS) has thrown the spotlight on deep-seated infrastructure, safety and welfare challenges confronting the institution, despite its growing student population.
At the ceremony, Headmaster Mr Franklin K. Amesimeku underscored the critical role of the Board as the highest decision-making authority in second-cycle institutions, stressing that its leadership was vital at a time when the school faces mounting pressures. With a student population of about 3,300, he said HEPSS urgently requires strong governance support to improve learning outcomes and student welfare.
Mr Amesimeku painted a stark picture of conditions on campus, citing acute shortages of furniture, teaching and learning materials, and students’ beds, which he said were undermining effective teaching and proper use of dormitory spaces. He added that the absence of an Assembly Hall had forced the school to hold major programmes outdoors, often under trees.
Security concerns also featured prominently. The Headmaster warned that the unfenced school compound had effectively become a thoroughfare for residents who used it as a testing ground for speeding motorcycles, posing serious risks to students and staff. He appealed to the Parent-Teacher Association to fast-track the ongoing fence wall project to protect lives and property.
Staff accommodation was another major concern, with Mr Amesimeku noting that the lack of teachers’ bungalows on campus meant most teachers lived in town. This, he said, placed an excessive supervisory burden on the few house parents resident on campus and weakened student monitoring.
In response, the Volta Regional Director of Education, Mr Francis Yaw Agbemadi, used the occasion to caution teachers against engaging in inappropriate relationships with students, warning that such conduct was unacceptable and would attract strict sanctions from the Ghana Education Service.
The newly inaugurated Board, drawn from education authorities, traditional leadership, the church, PTA and the local community, is expected to steer the school through these challenges and work towards improving safety, discipline and academic standards at HEPSS.
