Alumni groups cannot fix it all – 1987 year group appeals for support for Seikwa Presbyterian School

The 1987 year group of Seikwa Presbyterian School has appealed to fellow alumni and stakeholders to unite and support efforts to address mounting infrastructural challenges at their alma mater, warning that no single alumni group can resolve the situation alone.

The appeal follows a visit by the year group to the school as part of activities marking its inauguration as a development-oriented association, during which members expressed concern about the deteriorating state of facilities and the difficult conditions under which teaching and learning take place.

The school, located in Seikwa in the Tain District of the Bono Region, has a total enrolment of 561 pupils and students, including 419 at the Primary and Kindergarten (KG) levels, which operate a double-stream system.

However, both the Primary/KG and Junior High School (JHS) sections face significant challenges, including inadequate classrooms and desks, dilapidated structures, poor sanitation facilities, abandoned buildings, and no staff common room.

Speaking during an interview, Secretary of the 1987 Year Group, Raymond Ofori, said members were saddened by the condition of the school when they revisited it after several years.

"Really, after so many years, when we left the four walls of this school, I've never entered this school. But today, when I came, actually, I was sad in a way. The environment I saw is not anything to write home about," he said.

Mr Ofori said the group had previously assumed that everything was well with the school because members regularly passed through the community without appreciating the extent of the challenges within the premises.

He said the magnitude of the challenges required a collective response from all former students.

"If we leave it to the individual year groups, looking at the challenges here, one year group can't solve it. So we are inviting all group leaders and all those who have passed through the four walls. We need you," he appealed.

According to him, the vision is to establish a stronger alumni network that can mobilise substantial resources and coordinate interventions based on the school's most pressing needs.

He noted that the school had produced several individuals who had gone on to contribute to their communities and society, making it important for former students to give back to the school that helped shape their lives.

Mr Ofori explained that the 1987 Year Group had previously operated largely as a welfare association, with activities centred on supporting members during bereavements and other difficult moments.

However, members later recognised that their former school also needed their attention and decided to redirect some of their collective efforts towards its development.

He said the inauguration was therefore intended to formally establish the group as a development partner of the school, rather than limiting its activities to welfare matters.

As part of the inauguration, the group donated educational, sporting and maintenance equipment to both the Primary and JHS sections.

The items included two sets of jerseys, footballs, goalkeeping gloves, whistles, two laptop computers, a television set and a lawn mower.

He explained that the sporting equipment was intended to encourage physical education and sporting activities, while the laptops and television set would provide additional resources to support teaching and learning.

The lawn mower, he added, would help with the maintenance of the school environment.

Other activities that marked the inauguration of the year group included a dinner that involved some teachers who taught the members during their time at the school.