There was a short news item in the Daily Graphic a week ago, on January 16, which amounted to an SOS to the Government from two communities in Kasoa. Their distress is that the future of their children is at risk because there are very few public basic schools in their locality.
In separate interviews with the paper, some residents of Great Lamptey Mills and Christian Hill said the lack of public schools in their communities is making it difficult for them to enrol their children in school, since they cannot afford private school fees.
Therefore, the poignant appeal of the two communities in the Awutu Senya Municipality of the Central Region is that the government should build more public schools in their areas to cater for their wards.
There are 175 private schools and four public schools in the Awutu Senya East Municipality, the Graphic noted.
A teacher in one of the private schools told the paper that most of the schools in that area are privately owned, adding that a number of children of school-going age are out of school because their parents cannot afford the high fees charged by the private schools.
Some of the children have to walk long distances to school, while others are compelled to cross the busy highway to (the nearest public) school at Amanfrom and Akweley.
Asked to comment on the situation, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Awutu Senya East, Mr Adams Nuhu, reportedly explained that “there were plans to provide schools for all the communities in the municipality but indicated that there were problems with land acquisition.”
“He said provision had been made for the construction of four more public schools soon, and expressed optimism that the construction of the new interchange and road markings would facilitate pedestrian crossing and also guarantee the safety of children.”
The revelation that there are only four public schools in the Awutu Senya East Municipality, whereas the private ones number as many as 175 is astounding; food for thought.
It confirms my own long-held belief that settlements and suburbs are springing up, or rapidly expanding, without the equivalent number of public schools, popularly and usually scornfully termed ‘cyto’ schools.
However, it is recalled that the public schools were once the bedrock of the country’s educational system, which many senior citizens can attest to.
They provided good, government-supported elementary education for all, before the advent of the ‘experimental’, ‘international’ and other ‘posh’ and expensive schools which soon outstripped the public schools in quality.
Incidentally, a knowledgeable friend reminded me that ‘cyto’ is from ‘cytoplasm’– definition: “the complex of chemical compounds and structures within a plant or animal cell excluding the nucleus.” I guess it is the ‘excluding the nucleus’ part, meaning it is missing its central or most important item that led to ‘cyto’ becoming a term for low quality schooling.
Definitely Kasoa is not the only place where this anomaly exists. In the new suburbs of Accra, and other urban areas, one can see private basic schools of all kinds, many masquerading as ‘international school’, but one hardly ever comes across a similar number of public schools, if any.
I wonder what the findings of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education itself are on the number of new communities where there are no public basic schools, or where the number is far short of the need.
Yet, it seems that local administrations are not bothered about the numerous places in their catchment areas expanding rapidly but without adequate provision of public schools.
Maybe to them parents will just have to sweat to afford the private school fees, or enrol their wards in the nearest public school even if that school is a stressful, unaffordable, two or three ‘tro-tro’ changes away.
And, of course, there is a simple solution for parents and guardians who cannot afford either the private school fees or the multiple ‘tro-tro’ fares to the nearest public school: their children don’t go to school.
Strange that, as stated by MCE Mr Nuhu, his municipality has problems acquiring land to construct public schools, while the private individuals have somehow managed to overcome that problem.
What future do such unfortunate children have who are out of school because their need was evidently not planned for by either their local administration or the central government?
Certainly for lack of schooling, these children are likely to be left behind in Ghana’s advancement, condemned to a bleak life on the fringes of society as unemployables and ‘ne’er-do-wells’, because ‘they have no classmates’.
Interestingly, coincidentally, in the same issue of the Graphic, and also reported by other media, was news of the launch of a National Youth Policy Implementation Plan (NYPIP) just the day before, “to give direction to the development of Ghana’s youth.”
The NYPIP will require initial funding of an estimated nearly GHC¢212.5 million to “cover the four thematic areas identified: human development and technology; economic empowerment; governance and leadership; and culture, sports and national orientation.”
The National Coordinator of the National Youth authority, Mr Ras Mubarak, explained that the implementation plan “is a calculated pragmatic response to the challenges facing the youth of Ghana,” the Graphic said.
Speaking at the launch, Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Mahama Ayariga, “disclosed that to show its commitment to the youth of the country, the government was currently reviewing the youth law ....”
And the Ghanaian Times reported Mr Mubarak as describing the implementation plan as the “candle that will light us through darkness for a safer future for our youth.”
How poetic! I rather like the sound of that, the candlelight imagery.
One question, though: does anybody have any such candles for the unfortunate children in Kasoa, and other places, who are being denied schooling because there are no government elementary schools in their area and their parents cannot afford the fees of private schools?
Why have the GES, the Ministry of Education and the Government not made it compulsory for local assemblies to ensure that all their suburbs have public schools for most, if not all, the children in that area?
Also, I wonder if the review of the youth law mentioned by Mr Ayariga addresses the Kasoa SOS and similar problems that deprive the children of the poor their right to schooling.
After all, the national Constitution does guarantee educational rights: “basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all” (emphasis mine).
Or, perhaps, the Kasoa and other affected parents may have to petition the United Nations, bearing in mind the Goal Two of the Millennium Development Goals, whose deadline is this year: “Achieve Universal Primary Education”.
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