C/R: Over 165,000 Public Basic Pupils Without Desks; Says Eduwatch

Education think tank, Africa Education Watch (EDUWATCH), says more than 165,000 students in public basic schools in the Central Region of Ghana do not have desks.

This forms part of 2.3 million pupils across the country without desks in public schools.

Per statistics presented by Eduwatch, 5.8 million children in Ghana’s public basic schools comprise 1.2 million in Kindergarten (KG), 3.2 million in primary and 1.4 million in Junior High Schools (JHS).

Referencing the Ministry of Education, it said, as of 2021, about 596,000 KG pupils, 1.28 million primary pupils, and 425,000 JHS pupils lacked desks in school.

This, therefore, resulted in a total of 2.3 million, the number of public basic school pupils without desks.

In the Central region alone, Eduwatch, which has been monitoring the situation said, over 165,000 public basic school pupils do not have desks in class.

Eduwatch has on that note called on the Regional Minister and Minister for Education to intervene.

Earlier this month, it reported that 1.3 million desks were needed urgently in public primary schools across the country.

This was after the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, announced the deployment of some 2,300 dual desks to over 80 basic schools in the Kpandai Education Directorate in February.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini