Afro-pop singer Wiyaala has added her voice to the outcry over living conditions at Funsi Senior High School in her hometown in the Upper West Region. In a video on her verified Facebook page, she called on President John Dramani Mahama, the Ghana Education Service (GES), the area’s MP Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw and District Chief Executive Adamu Shaibu to step in, as reported by Adomonline.
“Urgent video of the day! Funsi Senior High School needs all the help they can get please,” she wrote, adding: “do something! For the students.”
Years in the dark
Wiyaala visited the school after students staged a demonstration over their welfare. In the footage, she highlights conditions at the Boyle Dormitory, where, according to Adomonline, students say there has been no electricity for about three to four years. She also films a student waiting by a pipe for water to flow. Adomonline reports that one student said he had waited about three hours, and that water brought in by the Funsi Fire Service during her visit had come from a dam and was not fit to drink.
She also pointed to overcrowding, a fan that did not work and poor ventilation in the girls’ dormitory. She defended the students’ protest, saying it was peaceful and that they were not attacking teachers or destroying property, only demanding basics like electricity and water.
GES responds
In a statement on Wednesday, 11 November, GES said it had taken note of a student’s video on the problems and would work with the school’s authorities, government agencies and other stakeholders to find “a prompt resolution”, as reported by MyJoyOnline. The service said it had paid the school’s recurrent expenditure allocations long before the video emerged, urged the school’s leadership to act, and asked students to raise their grievances through the school’s management structures.
A voice for the north
Wiyaala has long championed her home region. In May she was unveiled as Fugu Queen and Tourism Ambassador for the Upper West, and she regularly urges Ghanaians on X to rock the traditional fugu smock with pride on #FuguWednesday.
Should more Ghanaian stars use their platforms to speak up for schools like Funsi SHS? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
