The Bongo District Assembly in the Upper East Region which has furniture deficit of 6,900 managed to procure 508 dual desks for schools in the area, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, Mr Peter Ayamga Ayinbisa , had disclosed.
The DCE made the disclosure on Friday when the Namoo Su-Nyeliga group at the Namoo community in the district donated 115 dual desks to the DCE for distribution to seven schools in the 10 electoral areas of the Namoo community.
Some of the beneficiary schools are Ayopia, Amanga, Feo, Kansoe, Bungu and Namoo Primary B.
Mr Ayinbisa commended the community members for using their festival periods to mobilise the resources from the community to purchase the furniture, and tasked the other communities in the district to emulate their example.
Whilst given the assurance that the district would soon receive 1,000 dual desks from the Regional Directorate of Education, the DCE said the assembly through its own resources had initiated the move to procure additional dual desks for the schools.
The DCE attributed the fallen standards of education in the district to lack of teaching and learning materials, absenteeism of teachers, teacher drunkenness, lack of accommodation for staff, inadequate school infrastructure, lack of effective supervision and irresponsible parenthood, adding that plans were far advanced to address the challenges.
He, however, warned that the assembly together with the District Directorate of Education would not hesitate to deal with teacher absenteeism and drunkenness.
“Unlike the southern parts of the country who are blessed with all the natural resources and have two rainy seasons we in this part of the country lack such opportunities. Our only strength lies in education and that explains why the New Patriotic Party government under President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is pumping huge resources in the education sector in this part of the country,” Mr Ayinbisa said.
The Deputy Director of the Ghana Education Service, Mr Moses Asunbono, entreated parents to ensure that their children attend school regularly and not absent themselves from school on market days.
The Chairman of the Namoo Su-Nyeliga group explained that after undertaking the needs assessment in the communities in the 10 electoral areas at Namoo, it was realised that the education sector was facing a major challenge particularly lack of furniture.
He indicated that this necessitated the communities to use the festival as a rallying point to mobilise resources to complement the government’s effort in tackling the problem.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, NAMOO
