Education they say is the key to success. Is the success being seen? Is the education giving out proper? Education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. It is also where a person develops skills essential to daily living,
Learns social norms, develops judgment and reasoning, and learns how to discern right from wrong.
The importance of education in our lives goes far beyond what we can read in a textbook. Education also provides children with knowledge such as how to produce artwork and make music. Education allows us to analyse what’s in front of us, and even learn from our mistakes
People with higher education and varied experience are more likely to get high-paying, expert jobs. Studying hard throughout school and studies shows that one will not be afraid of hard work and will be able to fulfill goals. Employers see this as a huge advantage as they all prefer a responsible and knowledgeable workforce. Once one graduate, he or she can start searching for jobs that will give them the opportunity to practice what they’ve learnt and, at the same time, secures sufficient pay for their needs.
Ghana had the opportunity to showcase to the world its preparedness to manage its own affairs through home grown Human Resources after the independence. The evidence of our own capacity to man our sectors has been a product of educational system, bearing such fruits as other countries within the African region coming into Ghana to study. This enviable position of Ghana has witnessed praises and kept it as benchmark for education within the West African sub-region for a long time.
Yet, Doryumu a town located at the Shia-Osudoku district in the Greater Accra Region lacks good educational system. There are two government schools and other private schools. Most of the people in the community can’t afford the private schools.
The government school’s building is in a bad state to the extent that when it rains children might have to go home. These buildings have no doors and windows.
As a result, most young people in the community have no education. This has led to early marriage among young girls in the community. When parents are not able to afford their ward’s fees, they then drop out, then get a husband then marry.
The Assembly Member of the community, Jacob Boatey, recently said financial problem has been the major thing that doesn’t make children go to school. He says before Covid-19 they planned to organise a program which will bring all the people in the community that has been successful together and organise a fundraising for the children and build the government schools but couldn’t come on.
Some basic schools in the district are understaffed due to newly posted teachers rejecting their posting as a result of the bad road network and inadequate accommodation facilities.
The peculiar nature of the district –whereby the various communities are scattered makes it very difficult for teachers to accept postings due to underlying factors such as poor road networks and challenges in seeking decent accommodation.
This education gap shows how children from the poorest communities are missing opportunities to learn and grow into productive, happy adults. Because the children from the poorest households are not building the skills they need to learn, they face poorer education outcomes and remain trapped in the poverty cycle.
Education has always proven to be a very important tool for development in any country. In Ghana, however, although the government has taken steps to ensure the realizations of quality education, there is still a lot of work to be done as the Ghanaian educational sector is facing several challenges, especially in rural areas.
As many other rural villages experience their own obstacles in the educational sector. Without looking at the management side, the basic facilities for children to access the education are very poor and deplorable. Lack of school building and its facilities, lack of human resources to fill the minimum criteria of the school, long-distance between homes and school, lack of books/resources, library facilities, computer lab, etc. have turned out to be the obstacles for communities in rural areas in Ghana.
Most of the existing schools are not well maintained, therefore, the buildings are not safe enough for children and teachers to conduct the teaching and learning process. Some of the schools have no room for the basic school components to manage the resources and its facilities. The distance between school and home is also a challenge.
The departure from quality in the above initiatives is the lack of inadequate corresponding systems to ensure students are equipped with the skills, knowledge acquisition, in the first instance, making room for mass enrollment requires the requisite space to accommodate the students. When classrooms are limited or admissions are greater than classrooms space, the obvious outcomes will be poorly trained students as a result of mismatch the students teacher ratio and overcrowded classrooms.
The school environment is usually not conducive to learning. Classes are overcrowded, water and sanitation facilities are inadequate and trained teachers and school books are in short supply. The poor quality of education is reflected in students’ results. Children living with disabilities face even more challenges and adolescent girls are often denied the chance to complete secondary education.
Regardless of the country, good school facilities help determine the success of students and the effectiveness of a teacher’s lesson. However, with tight budgets and staff costs, the condition of school facilities is often further down the list of priorities.
Studies show that school facilities have an impact on the overall school experience of students and teachers. More studies are beginning to highlight the full impact of a well-equipped learning environment. In turn, school governors and heads have a clearer understanding of the benefits and are giving more attention to the issue.
With the will of the school managers, and the continuing improvements and innovations of school facilities, the learning environment is more interactive and conducive. With good facilities, teachers will be better prepared to adapt to the changing education requirements of their students for the job market.
Many parents often do not consider the quality of school facilities as a factor in choosing a school for their children, looking only at exam rates. Good equipment and facilities are part of a school’s holistic approach to improving the learning environment and balancing academics with other important non-curriculum activities, whether science lab facilities or sports equipment. When a school invests in facilities, the benefits to the school go far beyond the initial capital costs.
Hindatu Adamu, GIJ
