The inadequate classroom furniture, with some classes without a single one, has compelled the pupils of Gundork and Damolg-Tindongo basic schools in the Upper East Region, to sit on the bare floor to learn.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA), during a visit to the schools in the Nabdam District, observed that a pupil gets the privilege to use a desk to write depending on how early that child reports to school.
The Gundork Primary School has 416 pupils, comprising 203 boys and 213 girls.
Basic One, which has 60 pupils, is not spared the ordeal as there are only five dual desks.
Basic Two, with a pupil population of 96, has seven dual desks, with the windows and doors bare.
At the Damolg-Tindongo Kindergarten (KG) and primary schools, the situation was not different.
KG One has 35 pupils sitting on the bare floor to read and write, while the primary, with a population of 342 pupils; 142 boys and 200 girls, has far less furniture than adequate.
In Basic One, there are only five dual desks for the 46 pupils while the remaining classrooms are without furniture.
Master Baa-la Elisah, School Prefect, Gundork Primary School, said: “It’s so disturbing to see some of us sitting on the floor to learn, aside the back and waste pains we experience. It makes us uncomfortable to even pay full attention.”
“We have to wash our clothes every day on return to the house after school.”
Mr Laar Miiban, the Head teacher of Gundork Primary School, noted that the prevailing condition had a negative impact on the pupils’ academic performance.
Mr Thomas Atongo, Head teacher, Damolg-Tindongo Primary School, called for urgent action to provide the schools with furniture to improve teaching and learning.
Both heads confirmed to the GNA of receiving furniture from the District Assembly but said the pupils outnumbered the furniture provided.
