Volta Basic Schools Battle With Inadequate Infrastructure

The Volta Regional Director of Education, Mr. Emmanuel Keteku says the continuous downward trend of education in the region should partly be blamed on lack of infrastructure in schools particularly at the basic level.

According to him, more than 50 percent of schools in remote communities are studying under trees over the years.

Mr. Keteku noted that the situation would ultimately not create conducive atmosphere for effective teaching and learning and called on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), philanthropies and other education oriented organization to assist in the provision of school infrastructure to complement government's efforts.

The Regional Director of Education, who was speaking at the inauguration of two unit classroom blocks for the Adaklu-Hlihave L.A Primary and Junior High School at Hlihave, in the new Adaklu District, said the success of every school largely depends not only on good teachers and the location of the school, but the infrastructural base.

The new classroom blocks which were provided by a US based NGO, Pencils of Promise, cost 33,000 US dollars while the Hlihave community provided both skilled and unskilled labour was to address the infrastructure challenge of the school over the past 70 years.

Mr. Keteku disclosed that in the 2011 to 2012 academic year, the Volta region did not do well in the basic school examination in the national ratings as the region scored 27 percent as against the national percentage of 67, which he stressed does not auger well for a region that prides itself as a hub of education in the country.

He, therefore, challenged parents and guardians and major stakeholders in education to support school authorities and children to ensure that the provision of quality education was not compromised.

The Country Director of Pencils and Promise, Mr. Freeman Gobah said his organization established five years ago aims at increasing access to quality education in Ghana and would ensure that all needy schools like Adaklu Hlihave would be provided with modern structures to pave way to children in rural areas have access to quality education just as their counterparts in urban areas.

To achieve their objectives, Mr. Gobah said his organization would work in collaboration with Local Government authorities and communities to enable the NGO to identify such deprived schools and offer the necessary support that would address the infrastructure needs in such schools.

Mr. Gobah disclosed that from the beginning of September 2012, a total of eighty- six unit classroom blocks have been completed and handed over to various schools while ten are ongoing in the Volta region and 25 more classroom blocks would be provided by the end of the year to needy schools.

The Country Director of Pencils of Promise added that his organization would be providing scholarships to brilliant but needy children to enable them study to the level of their ability and advised pupils and students to take their studies seriously to enable them to benefit from the scholarship scheme.

The District Chief Executive for Adaklu, Mr. Emmanuel Sky Ganaku, commended the NGO in its move to support education in the District and called on other NGOs to emulate the gesture from Pencils of Promise in order to make education the engine of growth in the area for the needed development.

The Adaklu DCE, who was overwhelmed by the structure put up by the NGO promised to connect the school with electricity to aid teaching and learning as well as to improve upon the road network in the area for smooth socio economic activities in the District.

A number of students who distinguished themselves academically were given schools, exercise books, pencils, erasers, mathematical sets, and school uniforms to support them in their studies