Appiatse: Children drop out of school as they are left with no classrooms
A number of school children have been rendered dropouts in the now decimated Appiatse community, 32 days after the explosion.
Whiles their age mates in adjoining communities and across the country sit in classrooms, children between the ages of five and eight in the devastated Appiatse community are left with no classrooms and study materials.
That’s the plight of the disadvantaged children who have lost everything from stationery to uniforms and footwear they take to school.
The children who are now bearing the cascading brunt of the January 20 disaster were seen loitering hopelessly at the makeshift camp on Monday when the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor, visited with a Technical team to present a draft of the reconstructed community, and also engage the people to participate actively in the process.
When asked why she didn’t go to school, Erica Lawer, one of the about 70 children who were present at the durbar, said, “I didn’t go to school because my school uniform, my bag, my books, and my footwear got burnt when the explosion occurred and I don’t have a replacement.”
The almost teary Grade 2 pupil then made a passionate appeal to government and the reconstruction committee to supply her and the other children going through the same predicament with stationery and uniforms for them to go back to school.
“I am appealing to government to provide me with books, a school uniform, and a bag to enable me to go back to school,” Erica said.
Seven-year-old Ransford Asare, who spoke with Joy News, also shared the same sentiment and followed with the same appeal.
Responding to the question about the future of the education of the temporary dropouts, Mr Jinapor assured the community that the children’s education remains a key concern for government, and that explains why the administration has factored into the reconstruction, a new school block for the community.
Source: Ghana News
