PROTECTING SCHOOL LANDS (MAY 31, 2010)

VARIOUS institutions and organisations may need large tracts of land for their particular activities, but very few will disagree that schools need more land than all the institutions.
Basic schools may need land, for instance, for the construction of additional classrooms to meet increased enrolment, while a secondary school may put up new departments and bungalows for teachers and other staff members.
Universities are whole communities by themselves and the amount of land they need is unimaginable. This is because they have something to do with almost everything under the sun — training professionals for industry, having centres for research purposes, etc.
Not too long ago, society showed respect towards school lands and other property, such that in the villages, for instance, only hedges marked the boundaries of school property and yet nobody even cut down the hedges, let alone encroach on the school land.
However, today certain individuals and even organisations have shown disrespect for the purposes for which lands are demarcated for schools.
We have not forgotten the encroachment on Achimota School, Odorgonno and Christian Methodist Senior High schools lands in Accra and others elsewhere across the country. We are also aware of the legal battles these acts of encroachment bring about, sometimes disrupting the productive activities of the schools involved.
Some people have suggested various ways of stemming the tide of encroachment on school lands, including the government paying compensation to the families from whom those lands were taken and the fencing of schools.
This is why the DAILY GRAPHIC would like to commend CST Limited, a wire manufacturing company, for erecting a three-kilometre wire fence round the Ada Senior High/Technical School at Sege to secure the school and prevent encroachment on the school land.
The action of CST Limited reminds us of a very important aspect of school life, the security of both lives and property.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks the government, landowners, schools and other stakeholders should be proactive enough to resolve all issues concerning encroachment.
We all know the issue of land guards in land matters in the country today. This phenomenon has gained currency in recent times because of the desire of landowners to protect their property and also the failure of the security agencies to police people’s property.
The DAILY GRAPHIC would not take kindly to a situation where an encroachment case will turn violent and fatal, in which case the victims may include innocent schoolchildren.
While we hope the government and other stakeholders will consider our suggestion, we again want to say bravo to CST Limited and appeal to others to partner the government and other stakeholders to find a lasting solution to encroachment on school lands.
Let us not consider the protection of school lands as being peripheral to efforts at providing quality teaching and learning facilities for our students, since a conducive school environment engenders quality education.