Children in Afransie a remote farming community in the Shama Municipality, are forced to delay education due to absence of a school in the community.
Their plight is compounded by a deteriorating road network that leaves the village isolated, especially during the rainy season making access to neighboring communities and essential services nearly impossible.
As stated in Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals, every child has the right to free, equitable, and quality basic and secondary education.
But for children in Afransie, a free and equitable education remains a dream.
Despite having a sizable number of school aged children, the community has no school. With no school in Afransie, children as young as five years stay home and often wait until age ten before they take their first step into a classroom.
During rainy season, conveying farm produce to market becomes difficult as the already deplorable road deteriorate even further. Not only do students struggle, pregnant mothers also face significant barriers to healthcare access.
Speaking with Adane Boakye the Assembly Member, he recounted a grueling situation, “a pregnant woman and her newborn baby did fell from an okada bike due the deplorable nature of the road as they had to journey from the village to Beposo to have her placenta cut”.
The Assembly Member for the community recounted efforts to secure a school building, noting that they are still awaiting the confirmation of the President’s nominee for the municipality.
“But in the meantime, am leading a community self-help campaign to address the issue, any philanthropist or Non-Governmental Organization can donate their widow’s mite to help build at least a single room which could be used as a KG school to enable the children receive basic tuition, so that when they grow they can join others to attend school at Beposo or Kwame Tah,” he said.
