In the last decade and even before, the government has been trying to provide basic school buildings to accommodate pupils and teachers who hold classes under trees across the country, a phenomenon that has come to be known as ‘schools under trees.
For instance, on May 3, 2012, the then District Chief Executive (DCE) of Chereponi, Alhaji Issah Seidu Abah, told the media at Chereponi that the district had been provided 21 school buildings and matching facilities like places of convenience to replace schools under trees over a three-year period preceding the time he was speaking.
Then on January 26, this year, the DCE for Adansi South, Mr Francis Ankomah, inaugurated classroom blocks to replace schools under trees at Bronikrom, Kramokrom and Ankaase, with the promise that the Akufo-Addo administration was on course to eliminating schools under trees across the country.
Just yesterday, the VALCO Trust Fund, the charity wing of the aluminum-smelting company, Volta Aluminum Company Limited (VALCO),held a single ceremony at Abomosu in the Atiwa West District of the Eastern Region, to inaugurate 17 schools in different districts across the country.
The basic schools provided under the ‘Zero Schools Under Trees Project’, a programme meant to eliminate schools under trees across the country, come as a result of a partnership among VALCO, the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service.
As expected, the blocks have modern washrooms, furniture, library, canteen, head teacher’s offices, store rooms, boreholes, blackboards, and partitioned staff common rooms, with space for every teacher.
This is good because both teachers and learners deserve to have the optimum comfort at a place under conditions conducive to effective teaching and learning.
Another piece of good news is that the Fund envisions providing thousands of such schools to help eliminate the humiliating conditions children have to go through in accessing education by learning under trees and that the second batch of schools would be completed in May with the third batch commencing in June, this year.
The Ghanaian Times would like to appeal to other capable organisations to join VALCO in complementing the efforts of the government in ensuring that all children have access to equitable and quality education.
Sometimes it sounds like a novel being read or a tale being told when certain communities talk about schools under trees and dilapidated and collapsing classroom blocks.
These are realities and so when efforts are made to change the situation, it must be everyone’s joy because of the importance of education in self-improvement and national development.
In today’s world every meaningful and productive venture needs a touch of a level of education to realise the full benefits of that venture.
Some people are into certain endeavours all because they did not have education to unleash their potential for the desired life in this modern world.
Others are looked down upon because they are not educated.
A look into these cases is likely to reveal that some are not educated because there were no schools in their communities, not even one under trees.
In fact, even today, there are communities that do not have basic schools and children as young as six have to walk to the nearest community where they can have access to a school.
This makes life difficult for a category of children in this country, particularly those in rural communities, who sometimes abandon schooling out of frustration.
Meanwhile, the world has become a global village where there is ferocious competition in every field and one way to fit into the system is the use of knowledge and skills gained from schooling and schooling in a conducive environment.
It is, therefore, the hope of the Ghanaian Times that the government and its collaborators would continue to replace schools under trees and provide others in needy settlements so that the country can boast of having schools in all of its communities.
The benefit of this situation is unimaginable.
