Pupils of Nwodua R/C Primary school under Kumbungu district of the Northern region, have been compelled to sit under trees to study due to the lack of classrooms in the school.
The six-unit block accommodating the pupils in the school has turned into a death trap endangering their lives.
A visit by DGN Online to the Nwodua R/C Primary School revealed deep cracks in the classroom walls, exposed metals in the walls, and weak walls which could lead to a collapse of the building.
The Nwodua R/C Primary School, which was established in 1992 with a total of over 265 pupils serving the Nwodua community and its surroundings has not seen any renovation or facelift.
The school also lacks furniture and basic learning materials which have affected teaching and learning.
The current situation has compelled the management of the school to practice the multi-grade system with the pupils sitting under trees studying.
Some teachers who spoke to DGN Online on condition of anonymity said the situation has affected enrollment at the school.
“Some parents have removed their children from this school while other children have simply stopped coming to school seeing the risk involved regarding our school block”.
According to them, the pupils are allowed to go home anytime it rains because they sit under trees and do not have any alternative to accommodate them.
They are however worried that they might be compelled to close down the school because when they resume after the Christmas break, the leaves of the trees they sit under to study might dry off.
“Currently the trees do not have enough shade again due to the weather now and so we are likely to be stranded next term when we come back to school and so we might be compelled to close down the school because if we allow the children to come to school they won’t get a place to sit and study”.
They indicated that the situation has been reported to the district education office, district assembly, and all the stakeholders involved but to no avail.
Some of the pupils who narrated their ordeal to DGN Online said they experienced regular back and body pains because some of them sat on stones and benches.
“Our sitting posture makes us feel uncomfortable and tired because we sit on stones and benches throughout the school period,” a student said.
According to them, they fear they might develop some health diseases due to the dust they inhale while sitting in their classrooms.
“It’s our prayer that we don’t develop any chronic disease like asthma, or any respiratory diseases because we sit outside and our school is closer to the main road where vehicles move every minute blowing dust on us.”
The Parent Teacher Association(PTA) Chairman of the Nwodua R/C Primary School, Paul Alhassan Issahaku, lamented the situation adding that they were compelled to allow the pupils to sit under the trees because the six-classroom block had turned into a death trap and could collapse anytime soon.
“ The structure is completely weak and as you have seen it, the cracks in the classrooms are scary and nobody wants their child to stay inside this building which can collapse anytime”.
He disclosed that the Parent Teacher Association(PTA) in the community is planning to demolish the entire six-unit block and use materials they can salvage from it to construct a pavilion for the pupils.
Mr. Issahaku called on the government, organizations, and philanthropists to come to their aid to provide them with a befitting school building to enhance teaching and learning in the school.
According to Statistics from the Northern Regional Ghana Education Service (GES), out of 157,000 kindergarten children, only 52,000 of them have places to sit representing 33.6 percent with a huge deficit of 104,000 children with no furniture.
Again at the primary school level, out of 340,000 children, only 149, 000 can get a place to sit representing 44 percent and the remaining children lying on their stomachs to study.
The Sustainable Development Goal 4, which Ghana has signed onto, calls for ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all but the furniture deficit and the lack of infrastructure at Nwodua R/C Primary school is denying the pupils that opportunity.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the Northern Regional Ghana Education Service(GES) and the Kumbungu District Assembly to comment on the situation proved futile.
BY Eric Kombat, Nwodua