The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has revealed that approximately one million pupils in Ghana are forced to study while seated on the floor due to a severe furniture shortage.
In an interview on May 12, 2024, Dr. Apaak acknowledged the unacceptable situation, stating, “John Mahama will address the issue of the furniture shortage. As we speak now, we have a furniture deficit in excess of one million. What that means is that about one million of our wards go to school every day and they have to sit on the floor or sit on blocks to study. That clearly cannot be acceptable.”
The lack of adequate furniture in primary schools is significantly impacting academic work. According to recent data from the Ministry of Education’s Education Management Information System (EMIS), as of 2021, 50 percent (596,949) of KG pupils, 40 percent (1,308,479) of primary pupils, and 30 percent (425,465) of JHS pupils did not have seating and writing places, totaling 2,330,893, or 40 percent of basic school pupils.
The situation is dire, with pupils lying on their bellies to write and others improvising with blocks and stones as seats. Conditions in the classrooms are deplorable, with children sitting on cracked cement floors to take lessons. The management has expressed concerns that this situation is affecting the quality of teaching and learning in primary schools.
