Ghana: Too Many Kids, Too Few Classrooms

Amorkor Amarke has four children. Two of them, Emmanuel Tetteh, 7, and Nortei Tetteh, 11, are of school going age. But, instead of attending school, they spend their days either sitting at home or fishing.

It's not a lack of finances that keeps these children out of the classroom. Amarke says she has the money for her sons' school fees. And she does not need the extra funds earned by their labor. Amarke desperately wants to educate her children. "I feel uncomfortable that they are at home," she says, "and wish that they go to school to become somebody in the future."

Why, then, are the boys not in school?

The answer is simple. There is no space for them. Amarke and her two sons live in Totopey, a small fishing village near Ada Foah in the Greater Accra Region. Emmanuel and Nortei's problem is common in the town. Lack of facilities keeps many of Totopey's children from attending school, even though their parents are eager to send them.

For five years now, Totopey has lacked a nursery school and a kindergarten, so children like Emmanuel have no choice but to stay home. The town's children can only enter school at class one, and even then some of them, like Nortei, are turned away because of over enrollment.

The difficulties facing Totopey's young residents are not unique to this community. Outside of Accra, nursery schools and kindergartens are rare, since they are privately funded and run. Overcrowding also plagues many of this country's public schools, especially those in urban areas.

Most schools in Ghana admit everyone, no matter how full the classes are, says Joseph Odom, head of public relations for Ghana Education Service. But instead of getting admitted into already overcrowded classrooms, Totopey's children are turned away.

Totopey, about an hour and a half's drive east of Accra, is locked between the Gulf of Guinea and the Songhor Lagoon. Of Totopey's 2,000 residents, 600 of them are children under the age of 15. Many of these children would be enrolled in nursery school or kindergarten if the town had the facilities.

The town's children attend Pute Presbyterian Primary School. 500 children, from both Totopey and neighboring Pute, go to this school. The school is under great strain. Enrollment in class one is now over 100. It could be higher, but each year Pute Presbyterian turns away some students.

"When the classrooms are full, we are forced to tell parents that there are no admissions," explains Philip Sackey, the school's headmaster. The school can barely handle its 500 students.

The Chronicle recently visited the school and observed the overcrowding. The children in class one are packed into a single room. Three children squeeze onto each bench, which can barely hold two of them. Sackey informed The Chronicle that the situation is usually much worse; many students had not reported to school that day because it was a market day.

Godwin Goker, who teaches class one at Pute Presbyterian, says he has a great deal of trouble managing such a large class. "I sometimes encounter problems controlling the pupils," he explains. "They giggle and play when class is in session." Goker adds that marking all of his students' exercises is exhausting.

In addition to the difficult learning environment the overcrowding creates, the lack of a nursery school and kindergarten adds to the pressure on the teachers. When students enroll, they are far behind. In class one, Goker says, students must learn fundamentals like how to write letters and numbers.

The shortage of spots in school leaves parents feeling helpless. Nii Kabutey Sackey, a resident of Totopey, tried to enroll two of his children into class one this September. They were both sent home, told that there was no more room.

"I do not know what to do now," he says. "I do not want my children to be in the house." Determined to give them a proper education, Sackey sends his children to a school in Alavanyo, about 20 minutes from Totopey by car. Sackey's case is unique because he can afford the cost of transporting his children to a distant school.

Most parents in Totopey cannot.

Parents have enough trouble affording school uniforms for their children. Many children do not wear uniforms. For those who do wear them, their uniforms are torn and dirty.

Totopey's shortage of spots in school places some parents in an awkward position. If they have more than one young child, they might have to choose which child to send to school. "Parents always take the brilliant one to school," says Philip Sackey, Pute Presbyterian's headmaster, "someone they think can be somebody in future."

He says that the problem of overcrowding disappears in Totopey when children reach Junior Secondary School. By then, many of the students have dropped out. They quit either due to pregnancy or to learn a trade, he says.

But the problem is severe for younger children, and it seems it will remain so.

Benjamin Attipoe, the public relations officer of the Dangme East District Education Unit, says that Totopey's residents have the responsibility of providing a nursery school for their children. That is not one of the government's jobs.

It is, however, the government's responsibility to provide room for primary school students. But Attipoe says their district does not have funding for more classrooms and more teachers.

Odom of the Ghana Education Service, says that overcrowding is common in Ghana's urban schools. The introduction of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education policy in 1996, he says, compelled many parents to enroll their children in school, resulting in packed classrooms.

As for nursery schools and kindergartens, Odom says that the government is working to implement a policy that makes early childhood education compulsory. He says the policy insists that every primary school includes a nursery school.

Until bills such as these are passed and until districts have the finances to provide more classrooms and teachers, many of Totopey's young residents will continue to wait for their chance to learn.