By Rosemary Wayo/ Solomon Gumah
Tamale (N/R), July 13, GNA –The Northern Network for Education Development (NNED) has urged the government to urgently address the shortage of classroom blocks in basic schools, particularly in northern Ghana, following the 2025 Auditor-General’s Report revealing widespread infrastructure deficits.
The Network described the situation as a national emergency, saying it continued to deny millions of children their right to quality education while widening inequalities between urban and rural communities.
The call was contained in a press release signed by Mr Gaskin Dassah, Coordinator of the NNED, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Monday.
According to the statement, the 2025 Auditor-General’s Report revealed that 10,730 basic schools across 13 regions had no permanent classroom blocks, compelling more than three million pupils to study under trees, in churches, sheds and other temporary structures.
It said the situation was particularly alarming in northern Ghana, where many children in rural and deprived communities continued to study under trees or in unsafe structures exposed to harsh weather conditions, dust, noise and other distractions.
The statement noted that such learning conditions undermined effective teaching and learning, reduced school attendance, weakened pupils’ concentration and contributed to poor academic performance.
“NNED believes that no child should be denied quality education simply because of where they were born,” it said.
The statement said the lack of adequate classroom infrastructure in northern Ghana continued to deepen disparities in access to quality education and threatened the future of many children, especially girls, children with disabilities and pupils from poor households.
It appealed to the government, the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, as well as Members of Parliament, to prioritise the construction of safe, accessible and well-equipped classroom blocks in underserved communities.
The Network further urged the government to make public a comprehensive action plan outlining the affected schools, timelines for construction, budgetary allocations and monitoring mechanisms to ensure accountability in addressing the infrastructure deficit.
The statement stressed that education remained the foundation of national development and cautioned that Ghana could not achieve its development aspirations while millions of children continued to study under trees.
It said the time to act was now, emphasising that sustained investment in school infrastructure was essential to improving learning outcomes and ensuring equitable access to quality basic education across the country.
GNA
Edited by Audrey Dekalu
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