The Director of the Participatory Action for Rural Development Alternatives (PARDA), an NGO, Dr Michael Wombeogo, says the inability of teachers to share and discuss challenges in schools for solutions affects academic activities.
He said measures instituted by the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to gag teachers from sharing challenges they faced in schools, greatly affected quality of education, especially in rural communities.
He expressed concern about the lack of furniture in some basic schools in the Kassena-Nankana West District and across some schools in the country, yet school authorities who know the negative effects of the situation on academic activities could not speak about it to get the needed support.
Dr Wombeogo was speaking at a ceremony to commission a newly constructed Early Childhood Development centre at Saboro, with funding support from Children Believe.
He said “It is sad to note that there are some schools that you will find children lying on their stomachs to write but teachers seem to hide this fact as if it is a crime to put it out in the public domain for the needed support.”
He noted that teachers who had direct contact with students and appreciated the challenges in many schools, would not talk about the challenges to draw attention and seek support for their pupils for fear of victimisation.
Speaking on the need for child protection, Dr Wombeogo cautioned Parents not to send their children to buy alcohol or cigarette for them since children could easily be influenced to get involved in petty crime and appealed to stakeholders, especially parents and teachers to ensure that children were well protected against social vices that had the tendency to ruin their future.
