Wa West Community Wants Schools under Trees Abolished

The people of Gongo Community in Dabo Electoral Area in the Wa West District have called on government and stakeholders to help them to build a school structure to end the practice of children learning under trees.

The basic school was established in 2016 with the enrolment of 78 pupils to provide an educational opportunity for children in the area.

It was manned by one teacher employed by the community members, who are also appealing for teaching and learning materials.
The school without a single classroom block has now grown in population over 110 pupils from Kindergarten up to primary three, with only two teachers in charge.

Mr James Gona Kpitenye, who has now been absorbed into the NABCO programme, said the school lacked classrooms and learning materials.

“We used to borrow textbooks, chalk and other materials from our colleague teachers from other schools to teach the pupils,” he said.

He said the situation was seriously affecting the effective education of children in the community and appealed to the government to relieve the burden of parents.

He narrated how external noise interfered in the teaching and learning process because instructions were conducted in the open space and subjected to vagaries of the weather.

“School children learning under trees are exposed to harsh weather conditions, and whenever it is about to rain, we have to close them to rush home,” he said.

Mr Barnabas Gaazienye Tengbani, Assembly Member of the Dabo Electoral Area, told the Ghana News Agency that sometimes he had to use his pocket money to purchase chalk and other learning materials for the school.

He said parents in the community had agreed to contribute GHC40 per household to support in the roofing of the school since there was no immediate option to house the children.

The community moulded bricks to start a building project, but due to lack of funding, heavy rains washed away everything.

The Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) Chairman, Mr Timothy Dery, said the community was putting efforts to get a building before the coming rainy season.

He appealed to government and other stakeholders to help the community salvage their children from learning under harsh weather conditions as it posed serious health hazards.

 

Source: GNA