The Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo Constituency, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, has accused the government of neglecting the challenges of basic schools due to its focus on the Free SHS policy.

According to Terlabi, since the introduction of the policy, there has been minimal effort to improve the quality of education at the basic school level. He believes this neglect is adversely affecting the quality of teaching and learning.

In an interview with EXPRESSNEWSGHANA, in reaction to the 2024 mid-year budget review, Hon. Terlabi lamented the situation and called on the government to give basic school education the attention and care it deserves. He emphasized that primary education is critical to the success of secondary education and should be treated as a priority.

The MP, who is also the Chairman of the Environment, Science, and Technology Committee of Parliament, highlighted several challenges faced by basic schools across the country. These include a lack of pupils’ attendance registers, white and colored chalk, lesson notebooks, markers, textbooks, and other essential materials.

“Two or three days ago, I heard a teacher on air lamenting that even textbooks for the children were an issue; teachers have to share their books with the children. Many more such issues are facing the basic schools. However, due to fear of victimization, head teachers and school managers cannot come out to complain or expose these problems imposed by the government,” Hon. Terlabi stressed.

He argued that attention should not be focused solely on SHS, as basic education forms the foundation of the education system. “If your foundation is not strong, there is no way you can build any meaningful structure. The education ladder starts from the basic school. So we cannot do without the basic school,” he said.

Basic school children

Hon. Terlabi urged the government to address immediate problems in basic schools, such as the non-payment of capitation grants and the unavailability of textbooks and other essential teaching and learning materials. It has been reported that the government owes capitation grants from 2019/2020 (2 tranches), 2020/2021 (1 tranche), and none have been paid for 2021/2022. Information from basic schools indicates that teaching and learning have been adversely affected due to these hurdles.

In light of these concerns, Hon. Terlabi urged the relevant authorities to resolve these difficulties. “I urge the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to take steps to address these issues urgently. We can’t have effective teaching and learning in our basic schools if these issues persist,” Terlabi added.

HON TERLABI

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Source: Felix Nyaaba // expressnewsghana.com

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