There are approximately 5.8 million children in Ghana’s public basic schools who do not have desks.
According to Africa Educational Watch, there were 1.2 million in Kindergarten (KG), 3.2 million in primary, and 1.4 million in Junior High Schools (JHS).
An education alert issued by Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), by 2021, approximately 596,000 KG pupils, representing half of the national KG population, and 1.28 million primary school pupils would be without desks in school.
EduWatch added that another 425,000 students, or 30% of JHS students, were without writing spaces; “This brings the total number of public basic school pupils without desks to about 2.3 million.”
The Education think tank noted that the Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, Bono East, and Oti regions, which are the most underserved in the education sector, have worse desk conditions at the primary level.
According to EduWatch, the Northern Region has the most public primary school pupils with 213,252 without desks followed by Upper East (118,340) and Bono East (86,074).
The Education think tank added that 638,008 students, representing 61 percent, of public primary school students in Ghana’s seven underserved regions do not have desks.
“Proportionally, while all the seven regions have the percentage of public primary school pupils, lacking desks higher than the national average of 40 percent; the North East Region leads with a maximum of 80 percent of primary school pupils lacking desks.
“The Northern Region followed with 70 percent with Upper East, Bono East, and Savannah regions all recording 60 percent,” it noted.
EduWatch emphasized that pupils’ learning, handwriting, and health were negatively impacted by the lack of desks because they were forced to write during class in uncomfortable positions.
A recent study showed that about 24% of pupils in sampled schools in the Nkwanta South Municipality sat on stones to write on their laps, while 25% of students in chosen schools in the Zabzugu District lay on the floor.
EduWatch estimated that 800,000 dual desks, 150,000 KG tables, and 600,000 KG chairs were desperately needed in Ghana’s primary schools.
EduWatch added, “this is estimated to cost between GH¢330 to GH¢350 million, an amount equivalent to how much Ghana’s Government spends on the free SHS in just six weeks.”
The education think tank observed that current budgetary constraints, as manifested by cuts to the basic education budget and the GETFund, did not provide a budgetary solution in the short to medium term.
Concerning the perceived cause of the lack of chairs and desks, it blamed inadequate funding of basic education infrastructure, which manifested itself in the construction of schools with insufficient furniture or the absence of schools and furniture in some communities.
Additionally, the share of the education sector’s discretionary expenditure on basic education fell from 19.2 percent to 10.9 percent between 2014 and 2020.
“The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) is Ghana’s main funding engine for education infrastructure.
“In recent times, the quantum of GETFund expended on basic education has been on a steady decline, with only 16 percent GETFund’s infrastructure expenditure budget allocated to basic education in 2022, with secondary education receiving about 44 percent,” EduWatch stated.
According to EduWatch, the government should abandon its traditional public procurement approach to providing desks, which has proven insufficient in resolving the problem, in favour of exploring innovative, inclusive decentralized approaches that are cost-effective.
EduWatch also urged the Ministry of Education to implement a coordinated strategic approach that includes corporate Ghana, local governments, religious organizations, traditional authorities, civil society, and the Forestry Commission.
It added that a matching effort to mobilize local timber resources to produce desks at a lower cost at the regional level for distribution to underserved districts and schools was also feasible and cost-effective.
