Over 200 pupils at the Gyili D/A Primary School in the Takpo Area Council of the Nadowli-Kaleo District in the Upper West Region sit or sprawl on the bare floor to take lessons during school hours because the school does not have enough furniture.

Investigation by The Spectator Newspaper revealed that the kindergarten block has a total of 58 school children in two separate classrooms, but has only six dual desks and three broken ones.

The primary block which is made up of six classrooms and accommodating 153 pupils cannot boast of more than 15 functional dual desks.

In some of the classrooms, a dual desk which is originally designed to take two pupils had four or five pupils occupying it making it difficult for them to write.

In an interview, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) Chairman, Mr Abraham Suglo who drew this paper’s attention to the plight of the school, described the situation as worrying and said it affected school attendance as some parents were unwilling to send their wards to a school where pupils had to lie on their tummies for lessons.

“Money is difficult to come by these days and when you are able to raise a little, you are forced to use it on soap because each time your child returns from school, they look very dirty”, he decried and said the PTA was appealing to donors and benevolent persons to assist the pupils with furniture to facilitate teaching and learning.

“The PTA is putting resources together to fix some of the broken furniture but we are calling on individuals and organisations to support us provide desks for our children”, he added.

The Vice Chairman of the PTA, Mr Eric A-iriba also expressed that aside the issue of desks, the school block also needed refurbishing to make it more suitable for academic work.

He called on government and the district assembly to help renovate the school block, provide furniture and also post more teachers to the school as some of the classes did not have teachers.

When contacted, the District Director of Education, Mr Christopher Kutina said the inadequate supply of furniture in schools was a national issue that needed the attention of every well-meaning Ghanaian not only the government.

He said the directorate was working around the clock to secure support for such schools and said parents who could support should do so for the sake of their wards.

“We know there are some affluent ones in the communities and within the schools’ PTA who can assist and that is why we are reconstituting the schools’ management committees (SMCs) and get them sensitised to the fact that they need to support the development of their wards’ schools with their personal resources if they could”, he added.

From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Gyili