Schools in the Abutia Traditional Area in the Ho West District of the Volta Region lack infrastructure, which has forced pupils to write on the floor.
The children in some schools in the area learn under very harsh conditions.
Interestingly, as many as four children share a desk meant for two pupils as result of inadequate furniture.
Inadequate Classrooms
The Abutia Traditional area has close to 20 basic schools, but only a handful of them have conducive environments for teaching and learning.
But in order not deny children of school-going age in the area access to education, the schools’ authorities are forced to fill the classrooms with a lot of pupils.
There are many mud structures that serve as classrooms for the kids, whose roofs are ripped-off by heavy storms.
Time Bomb
The structures do not only put the lives of the children and their teachers in danger, but also present health challenges due to congestion in the classrooms.
This came to light when the Ho West District Chief Executive (DCE), Ernest Apau, paid a working visit to the area to obtain first-hand information about challenges facing schools in the area.
While some communities struggle with accommodation, the situation is different at Dzanyodake where a six-unit classroom facility is being under-utilised.
The construction of the facility, which began in 2000 under the Schools Under Trees and Emergency Intervention Programme (SUTEmIP), was commissioned last year, but the lack of teachers in the school has denied the children adequate tuition.
One Teacher, Six Classes
As at the time of filing this report, the school had only one volunteer teacher who handles all the six classes.
He told DAILY GUIDE that he has been working for the past 17 months without any form of compensation.
At Abutia Kisifli, however, pupils are made to sit on concrete blocks while others stand throughout lessons due to the lack of furniture.
The Form One pupils learn in a room with foodstuffs meant for the School Feeding Programme due to inadequate classrooms.
Assembly Calls For Assistance
The DCE, Mr. Apau, in an interview with DAILY GUIDE, said that the children have to go through the ordeal in their quest to attend school.
The assembly at the moment does not have enough funds to tackle all the problems at once, but proper steps would be taken to address them, he stated.
Mr. Apau also appealed to the School Management Committees (SMCs) and the Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) of the various schools to meet the assembly half-way to quickly address the problems and provide a good teaching and learning environment for the pupils.
He also urged the inhabitants of the communities, who are well-to-do, to contribute their quota to improve education in the area.
<<Print>>