The chief and people of the Guduori community in the Kulpieni electoral area of the Nadowli-Kaleo District in the Upper West Region have appealed to the government to help establish a basic school in the community.
According to the chief, Naa Konyediibu Dantao, the absence of a school in the community had affected early childhood development of children in terms of receiving early education, as the children were unable to start school until they were almost seven or eight years old.
“The next available schools are at either Kulpieni and Nanvilli and the children have to trek several kilometers to get to the school and it makes it even more dangerous due to the presence of the black Volta around this area,” he said.
The chief stated this in an interview with the Ghanaian Times at Kulpieni on the sidelines of a gender and sexual-based violence workshop at the community by the Department of Gender with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The Chief said as a result of the distance and the fact that the community did not have roads with the exception of a paths created by long years of trekking, only older children were allowed to go to school.
“Even when they are eight and already late for kindergarten, the children are still not allowed to go to school during the rainy season because aside flood issues, the paths leading to other areas, get bushy and makes it riskier and more difficult to ply”, he said.
He explained that this trend was affecting the performance of children in the community at school as many of them absented themselves from school.
The chief said the community would be grateful if they received support for the construction of a classroom block to serve children from kindergarten to at least primary three by which time they would be old enough to cross to the other communities to further their education.
He believed that many school dropout cases in the community was as a result of the distance which he described as a disincentive to some of the children; many of whom did not even own bicycles.
“Some of these children are not even willing to go to school in the first place, so they just capitalize on the distance and stay at home”, he bemoaned.
A parent, Madam Ama Mavis told the Ghanaian Times that her child who was six years old was yet to start school because she could not send her to school at that long distance every day.
Mr Elijah Danyi, Assembly Member for the area added that although the population in the community was not that great, they needed the school due to the location of the community as well as and unique challenges they were faced with.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, WA
