Jinkpang (UW/R)-Ghana, April 26, GNA – The residents of Jinkpang, a community in the Sing Electoral area of the Wa Municipality, have expressed fear of their children losing out on education over lack of classroom infrastructure at the basic school level.
Some school children in the community hold classes under trees, a situation the residents said would adversely affect the education of their wards and put their future in jeopardy as impending rains would hamper effective teaching and learning.
The residents raised the concern when the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the community to ascertain some challenges affecting the community, with regards to the youth and educating the children.
Mr Issahaku Abdulai, the School Management Committee (SMC) Chairman, said the school, with a pupil population of about 400, relied on only four classrooms built by the community.
“This has compelled some of the pupils, from the Kindergarten (KG) to Primary five, to sit under trees for their lessons.
When the GNA visited the school, it observed that the concentration of the pupils who sat under the trees were distracted by the movement of people and motorbikes as well as other activities around the school premises.
The people, therefore, appealed for urgent intervention from the Central Government, Wa Municipal Assembly, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa Central Constituency, or benevolent individuals and organisations to help more and better structures for more effective academic activities.
Mr Abdulai explained that the school started about seven years ago as a community initiative with the consent of the Wa Municipal Education Directorate but had since not received any support from either the government or the MP.
The community, through a communal initiative, built a three-classroom block for the school to help reduce the plight of the pupils and the teachers.
It needs support from kind-spirited individuals and organisations to roof it.
Mr Abdualai sai: “We have seen that the teachers and the children are going through so many difficulties under the scorching sun and windy environment coupled with the rain, which has just started.
“We made appeals to the Municipal Assembly through our Assembly Member to help us roof the three classrooms that we have built.
“Apart from that, we also went to see the Municipal Chief Executive ourselves, but we still haven’t gotten any support from anyone”, he explained.
Mr Osman Adams, the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Chairman, said the problems of the school were too much of a burden on the Association, the teachers and pupils as well as the entire Community.
“We are appealing to any soft-hearted person or organisation to come and help us. If we don’t get any help, the education or our children will be affected when the rain starts because they have to close by force whenever it is raining”, he explained.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mandated the government of Ghana to ensure access to basic education by all children irrespective of their social status or geographical location by 2030.
However, access to education in rural communities, especially in the Upper West Region, was impeded by many factors such as distance and poor infrastructure which had forced many children out of school.
