Assessing maintenance culture of school buildings and their impact on teaching and learning in public basic schools in Ghana a case study in Denkyembour District in the Eastern Region

Abstract

Public Basic School buildings are great assets to communities and the nation as a whole, which must be maintained to warrant greater worth. This study assessed maintenance culture of school buildings and their impact on teaching and learning in Public Basic Schools in Ghana, a case study in the Denkyembour District in the Eastern Region. The objectives of the study were to: examine the issues of maintenance culture of Public Basic school buildings, identification of maintenance culture challenges and developing strategies to improve maintenance culture of public basic school buildings in Denkyembour District. A total of 92 respondents were used for the study and was sampled as follows: Sixty (60) teachers, twenty (20) students, six (6) Head teachers and six (6) School Management Committee members of the selected Public basic schools. Questionnaires, interview schedule and observation were used for the data collection. The study revealed that most of the public basic school buildings had cracked and broken walls, wearing off floor screeds and faded paintings, some had leaky roofs whilst some roof partly ripped off. The study concludes that maintenance culture of public basic school buildings has a bearing on teaching and learning, attendance of students to school and retention of experienced teachers in the schools in the District. The study recommends that the Denkyembour District Assembly should invest in public basic school building maintenance since effective maintenance promote heathy and safety environment to make life of students and teachers comfortable and prolong the life span of the school buildings.