HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING TRAINING SCHOOL, TECHIMAN - KROBO

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INTRODUCTION
Techiman is an important historical and commercial town strategically located in the heart of the Brong –Ahafo Region of Ghana. By virtue of its location, Techiman has become an international market centre. The population of Techiman and its catchment area is growing at a rate faster than the national average. With the increased population, however, Techiman was without any public post – secondary educational institution to serve her people and that was a source of worry to many opinion leaders and stakeholders in the education sector in the Municipality.

It was the search for an educational institution to fill that gap and the need for health workers in the municipality that dawned on the then Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Techiman Municipality and now the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Techiman North Constituency, Hon Alex Kyeremeh that establishing a community Health Nursing Training School (CHNTS) at Krobo would be appropriate.

HEALTH EDUCATION IN THE TECHIMAN MUNICIPALITY
As the MCE for the Municipality, Hon Alex Kyeremeh, who has a passion for the training of health workers in the Municipality, started the establishment of midwifery and Nurses Training School attached to the Holy Family Hospital at Techiman.
The Municipal Assembly under his watch built a state-of-the-art three-classroom block for the nursing training school. He pursued the opening of the school up to the point where the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi accepted to give accreditation to the school. Being satisfied with the advance made in the establishment of the midwifery and Nursing Training school, Hon Alex Kyeremeh decided that a community Health Nursing Training school should be established in the Municipality in addition to the Nursing Training at Techiman.

COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING TRAINING SCHOOL (CHNTS)
When he had vision the of establishing a Community Health Nursing Training School (CHNTS) at Krobo, Hon Alex Kyeremeh consulted Nana Asah Akompanin the Krobohene and Kyidomhene of the Techiman Traditional Area on the project. Nana Akopanin was happy at the news and expressed his willingness to support the project.

The MCE then suggested to Nana that there was not enough time available for the school to open, so it would be prudent to start the school in some existing structures that lay idle on the compound of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) primary school at Krobo. These structures included a six-classroom block constructed by the Techiman Municipal Assembly (TMA) and a building put up Nana Asah Akompanin himself and was meant to serve as community library. Other structures included an uncompleted structure that had been put up by Nana Krobohemaa which was earmarked for a Kindergarten Finishing touches were added to this structure and others donated by some communal spirited individuals to become part of the nucleus of the CHNTS at Krobo. The next step for Hon. Alex was to contact the authorities of the SDA primary school and the church.

As the Akan adage good “nobody drives away the carrier of good news’’, the school and the church authorities agreed to give out the idle structure for the CHNTS to commence. When Hon Alex Kyeremeh was sure of the availability of physical facilities to start the school, he carried his vision to the then minister of health, Hon Alban Bagbin for consideration. The minister then sent a team from the Ghana Health Service headquarters in Accra to come and inspect the facilities to assess whether or not they could support the establishment of a community Health Nurses Training school at Krobo.

All along Mr. Christopher Beyere, head of the pre-service Training unit of the GHS had been playing the role of an unofficial advisor to the project. He offered very useful pieces of advice as to the requirements of the GHS that needed to be met before the school would be okay for commencement. These pieces of advice paid off. Eventually permission was granted for the school to start. On Thursday 29th of November 2012, the first batch of One Hundred and Ninety- one (191) students was admitted to the school. The initial number however reduced to One Hundred and Eighty –two (182) after the list was verified in Accra. This number is made up of Forty (40) males and One hundred and forty –two (142) females.

PERMANENT SITE
To show their appreciation and the desire to make the school one of the best in the country the Krobo community led by Nana Asah Akompnin has donated a piece of land to be the permanent site of the school. The size of the land is twenty (20) acres and is located on the Krobo –Agosa road. All new structures for the school are going to be put up on this new site.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE
It must be noted here that the efforts Hon Alex Kyeremeh and other individuals would not have been complete without the work of the Project Implementation Committee (PIC) which was put together by Hon. Alex Kyeremeh. From the point where the idea of establishing the CHNTS at Krobo was concretized to the day the school was opened and even beyond saw the PIC stretching every sinew to let the dream translated into a reality. The PIC worked very hard day and night, leaving no stone unturned to let the CHNTS at Krobo see the light of day. The committee did so much that no amount of space of paper can contain the enumeration of what it did to let the school see the light of day.


APPRECIATION
A lot of congratulations go to the Project Implementation Committee members for a good work done. They must be appreciated for a yeoman’s work done. But for them the beautiful dream of establishing the CHNTS at Krobo could continue to be a dream. We would also like to mention the names of some individuals whose contributions have gone a long way to bring this school to fruition. Special mention must be made of Nana Assah Akompanin II, Krobohene and Kyidomhene of the Techiman Traditional Area for his support; morally, spiritually and financially. But for the financial support of Nana, the project would have gotten stuck somewhere along the way. Thank you so much Nana. For lack of enough funds for the project the PIC had to depend on the benevolence of some creditors. The project had to depend, to a very great extent on the benevolence of individuals like Mr. Kwasi Gyan Jomo of Kwasi Gyan Jomo Construction Works, Mr. Owusu Komfram of Komfram Electricals and Hon. Kwasi Manu of Nyame Akwan Electricals. To these great individuals, we say congratulations and may God greatly bless you all.

We would also like to thank all the artisans; carpenters, masons, plumbers and electricians who in diverse ways, even under trying conditions, made the dream come true. Thank you all for your contributions and May God richly bless you.
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