By Nutor Bibini Nutor
Education is the most important tool to bring the most success to society today. In the famous quote by Malcom X, education is the passport to the future.
And this has been on the lips of experts in the sector. So what is the fate of children whose school facility is dilapidated, cracked and broken due to floods? That is the situation of most schools in Tokuroano, a town in the Krachi East district, in the Oti region, following the recent spilling of the Akosombo dam and its attendant floods.
In our continuing series from this part of the country, we turn our attention now to education in Tokuroano, a rural community in the Krachi East district of the Oti region. Most villages within Tokuroano have schools, though there are a few without one.
As a community with lots of settlers along the Oti River and on the islands, most of the schools here, as sampled by GBC News, have three classroom facilities made from mud. With the devastation of the floods that besieged most parts of Tokuroano, a number of the schools have either developed cracks or partly collapsed, compromising the quality assurance for safety.
Peace, a JHS three-year-old girl, told GBC News that her school has three classes bumped into one under one roof, with no learning materials and no desks.
But for a couple of their own brothers who have completed Junior School and Senior High Schools and have volunteered to teach in the school, that village school would have been a white elephant.
The story was similar to that of Agbasakorpe – a twenty-minute drive from the main town of Tokuroano. The road to this rural school, is a disincentive to any first timer to allow his or her child to trek several miles to attend that school. Worst of all, there aren’t books—at least, not enough to enable each learner to have one to himself or herself.
There are cracks all over the 3-classroom block, making it dangerous to have children sit in this space. This school is one of the most fortunate to have 20 desks, shared among the three classes. This means, only the early birds get to sit, while latecomers would have to either perch with their friends or stand. The situation got parents and teachers to erect this makeshift shelter with local blackboards hanging dangerously on chopped branches. Mr. Jeremiah Ampadu doubles as a Teacher and Headmaster of Agbasakorpe Community M/A Basic School.
Our camera lens also caught the sorry state of the Nyekornakpoe L/A primary school when we visited one of the islands of Tokuroano. A 3-unit classroom facility made from mud is all they take pride of.
There are no desks, no tables, absolutely nothing. Learners have to either carry their kitchen stools from home with others bringing dedicated plastic chairs to sit on or sit on the bare floor. With the recent floods, resultant from the spillage of the Akosombo and Bagre dams, part of the school collapsed, forcing classes one, two and three as well as kindergarten to sit in one class, while classes four, five and six share the other class. There is only one teacher at post, supported by a young man who has volunteered to assist with teaching.
Though a passionate teaching assistant, and dropped out of school before class six, he has volunteered to help the poor learners. We found out that upon completing class six, learners from Nyekornakpoe LA Primary school have to always use the boat on the Oti river to cross to another village to access Junior High School education. And if that’s not enough, we found that it is a norm for children to skip school every Friday to do menial jobs in the Tokuroano town.
The week starts on Friday for these poor Learners as they have to carry blocks, and sometimes sand, and chippings for people who are putting up various structures within the area. When sought to find if they are paid or fed by the people putting up the buildings.
They disclosed that, their teachers are given a pittance, with which they use to buy footballs and other sporting equipment because the schools do not have these facilities.
These school girls and boys say after engaging in the usual Friday menial jobs, school is called off, and they either get to play for the rest of the day or go home to rest. They see it as their contribution to getting the school running just like those in the big cities.
