The staff of the school lamented to Citi News the extent to which the situation is hampering effective teaching and learning, bringing into question the quality of free education delivered at the basic level.

Lessons at Dagbasu primary school are conducted under trees with some of the pupils sitting on the bare floor for lessons, while others sit on blocks.

One of the teachers has to relocate his class every two hours, as directed by the sun, in search of shade for his pupils.

“…When the sun changes, we come to the area with shade. In addition, when the rain comes, irrespective of the time, you have to close and that is a serious challenge. Even picking the blocks from one direction to the other is not easy. ”

The head teacher of the School, Yusuf Batondema, noted that the challenges extend beyond infrastructure as the pupils did not also have textbooks to work with.

“…When they are sitting outside, most of the time, the run away because a snake or a chameleon falls from the trees, so the disperse most of the time. I am appealing for classroom accommodation. For primary four up to JHS three, there is no single textbook being provided by an individual or the government. Teaching and learning is stressful. It is very difficult.”

The government is aware of the challenges the school faces as it awarded contracts for two six-classroom blocks in 2013 and 2014, but they have all been abandoned with their funding statuses unknown.

Daniel Tanko, the Assemblyman for the Wallembelle electoral area, appealed to the GETfund to act on the issue, and noted that he had gotten assurances from the District Chief Executive of the area, and the Member of Parliament, Abass Ridwan Dauda.

“… About a month ago, I spoke with the DCE and the MP, and they assured that they were going to follow up on the funding issue, and later, the MP called saying funding has been released to one of the contractors.”

This was confirmed by one of the contractors, “but up till now, we are following him to come to the site but he is not coming.”

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By: Latif Mahama/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post U/West: Weather dictating teaching hours for under-tree school at Dagbasu appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the directorate, the situation has compromised access and quality of education delivery in the affected schools and urgent measures must be put in place to address the situation.

Speaking to Citi News in Bolgatanga, the Regional Deputy Director of Education in-charge of Planning and Projects, Mr. Raymond Abatanie disclosed that, 334 basic schools were under trees whilst 246 schools were in a dilapidated condition in the region.

Out of the 13 districts, Bawku municipality recorded the highest of this number with 75 schools either under trees or dilapidated or both, followed by Garu-Tempane with 74, Bawku West with 71, Kassena Nankana municipality with 68 and Pusiga with 46.

The rest are; Talensi with 43, followed by Bongo with 37, Builsa North and Bolga both with 35, Builsa South and  Kassena Nankana West both with 31 and the Binduri and Nabdam districts recording 18 and 16 schools respectively.

“Generally it affects teaching and learning and is a de-motivational factor to pupils in public schools,” he said.

Due to high enrollment, most of these schools have to share classroms with the primary and Junior high schools, therefore, quality is compromised and in most cases, teachers even resist posting to such schools.

School children are exposed to harsh weather conditions such leading to some of these schools closing earlier that normal

He said, after collating figures of the situation to the Director General of GES, they are yet to receive directives on the next line of action.

Mr. Abotanie appealed to the government through the Ministry of education and the decentralised structures of the assemblies to improve the harsh teaching and learning conditions of the affected schools.

“We should not wait for a disaster to strike before we take cogent measures to deal with the situation. All the 13 district assemblies are aware of the situation and the assemblies will tell you that for six months now, they have not received the common fund and cannot do anything about it. So we are appealing to government to do something about the situation.”

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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post 334 basic schools in Upper East still under trees – GES appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.