Lack Of Furniture Hinders Enrollment At Nayorigo School

School enrolment at the Nayorigo Primary and Junior High School in the Bongo District in the Upper East Region is experiencing sharp decline in admissions each year because of inadequate furniture.

Some parents have withdrawn their wards to better endowed schools especially private ones where the environment for teaching and learning was conducive.

A visit to the school by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) revealed that primary one to four had no furniture, thereby compelling the pupils to sit on bare floor during lessons while primary five to the Junior High had few numbers of furniture, where the pupils were spotted sharing dual desks and sitting three or four on one desk.

The school, particularly the primary section had no tables and chairs for the teachers.

According to the management of the school, the few number of furniture in both sections were presented by some old students of the school as well as the Parents' Teachers Association (PTA) through fundraising and contributions respectively.

Mr Mark Adagubra, Assistant Head Teacher of the primary section told the GNA that the situation had affected academic performance and pupils' enrolment in recent years.

He conceded that the deprived nature of the school had forced some parents to withdraw their wards from the school to other schools especially the private ones.

He commended a community member, Mr Alfred Akapoe for providing the school with some desks and said some of the pupils were still hanging on in the school because it was a beneficiary of the schools feeding programme.

Mr Adagubra indicated that the school which was established in 1997, had produced high profile personalities and should not be left to its current fate. He therefore called on the government, Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs), philanthropists and individuals to assist the school in its quest to ensure quality education.

Mr Lambert Atinga, the Assembly Member for the Nayorigo Electoral Area, explained that both the primary and JHS sections did not only suffer from insufficient teaching and learning materials such as textbooks, Science and Basic Design Technology (BDT) equipment, but said the school had no potable drinking water for the pupils and teachers.

The Assembly Member noted that even though WarterAid Ghana, an NGO, had assisted the primary school with water reservoirs, it was not enough as pupils struggled each day to get water to drink by reporting back late to classrooms after each break.

Mr Atinga who is also a teacher at the JHS section disclosed that the water situation coupled with the inadequate furniture had affected the smooth operations of academic activities.

He disclosed that management of the school had sent several appeals to the Bongo District Assembly on the needs of the school and said authorities promised to allocate furniture to the school when the government procures some for schools in the district, especially to the most deprived ones.