Students of Kwesikrom in the Ahanta West municipality of the Western region are enduring a desperate struggle for education, as the community has been without basic school infrastructure for years.
Driven by a relentless desire to learn, these pupils are forced to trek miles to neighboring towns just to attend school, highlighting the municipality’s urgent educational crisis.
This is in stark contrast to Chapter 25 of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which guarantees the right to education for every citizen, but for pupils of Kwesikrom, access to education is more of a punishment than a right.
For years, the community has been without essential education infrastructure, forcing children between the ages of 7 and 15 to endure daily, grueling walks of up to three kilometers to the nearest school at Sankor.
The situation is further exacerbated by the bushy and deplorable state of the road, with the pupils often times coming face to face with snakes and some wild animals as they trek to school.
With the deplorable state of the road, motorists are deterred from traversing there on leaving pupils vulnerable on their journey.
With no reliable means of transportation, parents are left in constant fear for their children’s safety as they embark on these treacherous routes in pursuit of education.
Ama Brounoma, a 62-year-old woman, shared an ordeal her two grandchildren once faced when they set for school.
“I felt sad yesterday when it rained. y grand children came home with their school uniform soaked with water and mud. That moment l contemplated stopping them from attending school as l can’t sustain watching them suffer just to receive education,” she lamented.
Beside the community’s need for school, it also lacks basic health facility, sanitary situation there is also alarming as residents resort to defecating at bushes.
Unfortunately residents are not having a fair share of the national cake which is partly due to leadership disputes which continues to hinder the community’s development.
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