Construction of Beyin District Model Kindergarten School is underway

As part of a three year grant from Tullow Ghana Limited to construct six kindergarten schools, in January we started work on a new school in the community of Beyin.

Beyin is a small fishing community located in the Jomoro Municipality. There is an existing school building, which has six primary classrooms and an old Junior High School block undergoing renovations. The community has no kindergarten facilities so currently their four and five year old children are using the primary school canteen as a classroom.

After consultations with Jomoro Municipal Assembly, Ghana Education Service, the Beyin Community, and the funder the site for the kindergarten school was chosen. The community marked the start of construction with a traditional sod cutting ceremony in January.

Since then work has progressed really well. To date the following activities have been undertaken:

• Once the site had been marked out the foundations for the two classrooms were dug and the ground beam cast.
• The steel reinforcement (rebars) was fixed in place for the concrete columns. Geo plastic formwork was then erected. This is used to create the mould that concrete can be poured into to form the columns.
• The concrete mixture for the main school structure was tested using a ‘slump test’ to ensure it will make safe and strong columns.
• The concrete for the columns was poured into the formwork and a Poker Vibrator machine was used to agitate the concrete, removing any air bubbles.
• The upper ring beam formwork was set in place (this time wooden formwork was used instead of the Geo plastic) along with truss shoes and then the concrete was poured in. The truss shoes are used to fix the roof in place.
• 80% of the main classroom building block work has been completed, making the lower level walls for the classrooms.
• The main roof structure is in place with timber and sheeting fixed. The next jobs on the roof will be the internal work, providing insulation and the ceiling board.
• The fence pillars around the new school site are also in place.

Watch this space for more updates ….