EXAMINATION OF THE CURRENT STATE OF GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN WA MUNICIPAL

Abstract

Building maintenance is a phenomenon that transcends all disciplines over the world and its importance cannot be overemphasized It has become very critical in institution success such that its intervention is indispensable. Public senior high school buildings in Ghana represent significant investment of the tax payers’ money and therefore maintaining these buildings is important. However, there seems to be paucity of studies on the examination of the current state of maintenance of government buildings in senior high schools in general and Wa Municipality in particular. This research seeks to bridge this knowledge gap by examining the current state of maintenance of government buildings in senior high schools in Wa Municipal of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Study methods include the use of questionnaire, interview guides, focus group discussion guide and observation checklist for data analysis. A total of 393 respondents (197 students, 140 teachers and 56 school management) who took part in this study were purposively selected. The study also found out that the current state of all the public senior high school buildings in the Wa Municipality is satisfactory for academic work; albeit poorly maintained with some buildings in a bad state. The study identified that the major defects on some of the school buildings are related to the state of services (students mean = 2.523, teachers mean = 2.321, school management mean = 2.464), fittings and furniture (students mean = 2.457, teachers mean = 2.500, school management mean = 1.982), as well as the finishes and windows (students mean = 2.609, teachers mean = 2.429, school management mean = 1.804). The school buildings which were highly affected were detected to be school dormitories, and teachers’ bungalows; whereas the school administration block and the school laboratory were found to be relatively in good state with reference to the number of defects. The study recommends that there is an urgent need for maintenance works to be carried out on public senior high school buildings in the Wa Municipality and also there should be a conscious effort to include maintenance activities in the budget both at the Assembly level and the school level in the Wa Municipality to ensure regular maintenance of their senior high school buildings.

Keywords: Current state, buildings, senior high schools, building maintenance, Wa Municipal