Nyoli (UW/R), Sept 28, GNA - Some teachers in the Wa West District are using Ghana@50 souvenirs meant for free distribution to school children, to exchange for labour of students on their farms, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) heard.
Students who refuse to work for the teachers on their farms are punished and blacklisted from receiving the souvenirs, a cross-section of students at this year's National Children's Day celebration told a and the bags, which are to be distributed free to us to exploit our labour. We are asked to go and work on their farms before we are given the items," a student said.
The students who came from selected schools in the district appealed to the district director of education to investigate the matter take the appropriate action.
The students also appealed to the district directorate of education to step up its monitoring efforts to ensure that government incentives under its pro-poor policy benefited them.
The children expressed concern about poor staffing position, especially teachers in the schools, caused mainly by the unwillingness of some teachers to stay in the communities where the schools are located.
Some of the students appealed to the government to provide them with sport kits such as footballs to enable them to develop their talents.
Mr. Cletus Paaga, Upper West Regional Director of Education, said he would cause an investigation into the allegation by the students, adding that teachers found culpable would be sanctioned. In another development, children of the Nyoli Roman Catholic Day Nursery are have had to attend classes in a dilapidated building, which posed as a death threat to their lives.
Madam Margaret Firuzie, Headmistress of the school, told the GNA that classes are always organised for the more than 225 children under trees anytime it rained.
She said the school had no furniture and had to borrow some desks from nearby Nyoli Primary School, but that was never enough, resulting in many of the children sitting on the floor during classes. Madam Firuzie appealed to the Wa West District Assembly to provide the school with a classroom accommodation and furniture to encourage the community members to send their children to school.
