The lack of school furniture at Babile D/A Primary School in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region has forced the majority of pupils to lie on their stomachs on the bare classroom floor during school hours.
This situation has caused many children to drop out of school since they could not always lie on the floor in their quest to acquire a formal education.
Most parents are compelled to send their children to the farm to assist them instead of allowing them to go to school.
When the Ghanaian Times visited the school yesterday, it observed that teachers also found it difficult to move round the classrooms to teach because of the lack of space in them.
While some lie down, others sit on the ground, creating a haphazard arrangement.
Part of the cemented floor of the classrooms of the primary block had worn off, leaving holes in them.
In an interview, one of the teachers, Mr Alhassan Jarimaya, said the dilapidated nature of the classroom blocks and the lack of furniture were affecting teaching and learning in the school.
“For a student to concentrate well in class, there should be some kind of comfort in the classroom. But because of the lack of furniture in our school, it has brought down the performance of the students. When a teacher is teaching, they do not pay attention and some even doze off,” he said.
He said the majority of the students struggle to follow the lessons since they found it very difficult and uncomfortable to lie on their stomachs every day to participate in the academic work.
Mr Jarimaya revealed that enrolment in the school had reduced drastically due to the lack of furniture and good classrooms for smooth teaching and learning.
The Assembly Member for the Babile Electoral Area, Zola Dabuo, expressed worry about the situation, stressing that it was affecting enrolment in the school.
He said all efforts made to get the authorities to work on the dilapidated building and also help the school with furniture had proven futile.
He, therefore, appealed to the MP of the Lawra Constituency, the government, and philanthropists to come to the aid of the school.
A parent, Baari Cynthia, said “I have to wash my children’s school uniform almost every day. They are always dirty when they return from school. I sometimes feel like withdrawing them from the school to come and join me in my business because I have no money to send them to a private school.”
Attempts by the Ghanaian Times to reach Mr Bede Ziedeng, the Member of Parliament for the Constituency, and Mr Jacob Dery, the Lawra Municipal Chief Executive, were unsuccessful.
Multiple phone calls to them were neither answered nor returned.
FROM RAFIA ABDUL RAZAK, LAWRA
