Infrastructure Alone Doesn’t Provide Education- Otumfuo

The Occupant of the Golden Stool, His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has emphasized the need to balance the financing of education in the country for optimum results.

He posits that inasmuch as educational infrastructures are significant to teaching and learning, other aspects of the sector demand similar attention.

He recognizes that the governments do well in raising school buildings across the country but starve these facilities with other equally relevant learning materials.

“We need to look at the financing of education, what resources are available and how they are allocated to the various levels to ensure equity. This is at the root of all the discourse. Education is an expensive investment. The expenditure on buildings is huge but buildings alone do not provide education.”

He thereby called for the provision of suitable learning materials for smooth delivery.

“Learning and teaching materials must be available. In the 21st Century, there should be no school without computers, without the means to provide the Basic ICT skills and we should ensure our teachers are reasonably remunerated for the critical service they provide.”

In Ghana, there have been numerous reported cases of lack of textbooks, chalks, desks, ICT labs and computers, among others in various rural and urban basic and Senior High Schools.

This has proven to be a major challenge to these institutions in offering the needed quality education at all levels.

In some cases, students are billed with the cost of chalks or markers.

Otumfuo was speaking at an event where he was honoured with a doctorate degree by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in the Central Region on September 5, 2024.