By Philip Tengzu
Gongo, (UW/R), April 24, GNA – Some Parents and guardians of three communities in the Dabo Electoral Area, Wa West District have expressed worry about the inability of their children to access basic education.
The communities were Gongo, Gongyogloo and Guomaal all within one enclave of the electoral area but none of them had a basic school.
The children from those communities had to endure the ordeal of trekking several miles to the Kulkpali community to access formal education, which some children were not able to endure.
The plight of the children of the Gongo and Gongyogloo communities was compounded during the rainy season as a river had cut the Kulkpali community from those communities making it excessively difficult for the children to cross to access the school at Kulpkali.
Mr Kojo Gangnaa, a parent at Gongo, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at the community that the situation was a source of concern for them as their children were lagging in education.
He said it was more worrying that anytime it rained the children could not go to school and when they were in school before it rained, then they had to be on the road in the bush until the water in the river subsided before they could cross to go home.
“Look at where the school is located, it is very far. When they go to school and it rains and the river gets full, they sleep in the bush for the water to reduce before they can cross.
We are really suffering here. Our children are struggling to be educated but we are now helpless. We are only hoping that a kind-hearted person will hear our cry and help us,” Mr Gangnaa explained.
Madam Alimatu Nuhu, a parent from Gongyogloo, lamented that their children were dropping out of school due to inherent challenges they had to endure to access the school.
She said due to the lack of a school closer to the community, the children dressed every morning and pretended as if they were going to school but ended up in the bushes engaging in activities that were inimical to their survival as children.
The helpless-looking residents of the three communities passionately appealed to the government through the Wa West District Assembly and philanthropic organisations and individuals to come to their aid by constructing a school within the three communities to help ease the challenges of their children in accessing education, especially during the rainy season.
Meanwhile, Mr Ambrose Gambozie, the Assembly Member of the Area, describing the distance from the school at Kulkpali to the three communities, said only children above ten years in those communities could attend the school at Kulkpali.
He suggested that if there were a school at Gongo, it could serve the children in the three communities, thereby promoting education in the area.
Ghana, as a signatory to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), was obliged to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by 2030.
Target one of SDG 4 sought to ensure that by 2030, “all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes.”
Target two of that Goal also states: “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education”.
However, for the children of Gongo, Gongyogloo and Guomaal, access to basic education is a privilege rather than a right as provided by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the Children’s Act 1996 (Act 560) and the UN Convention on the Right of the Child (UNCRC) among others.
Imperatively, the government and its development partners must double their efforts in making basic education accessible to every child residing in Ghana irrespective of his or her geographical location, social or economic status, creed, cultural or political affiliation to achieve these targets by 2030.
GNA