Children of school-going age are increasingly dropping out of school to engage in Illegal mining activities popularly known as Galamsey in Gbane, a community of the Talensi district.
A1 Radio’s reporter, Joshua Asaah writes;
Farmers in Gbane discovered gold on their farms in the year 1995 and the search for this yellow metal gradually became employment for community members.
Obuasi, Kejetia, Takwa, Accra. These are names of towns and cities down south of Ghana but interestingly, they are also nicknames of small areas found at mining sites in Gbane. At these sites, miners go down into very deep dark pits in search of gold.
Unfortunately, children of school going-age are not left out in the search for this precious metal. They leave school and join grown up men, climbing down into mining pits as deep as one thousand meters, mostly without any protective gear. Children, aged between 12 and 17, were seriously looking for gold when I visited the area.
Due to the number of hours they have to work at the mines, these children do not go to school. Some of them have dropped out whiles others go to school anytime they feel like it.
“I stopped schooling at JHS 1. I have been doing galamsey since 2008. There are times I earn up to GHC 80 a day and use the money to help my junior brothers and sisters back at the village who are schooling.” One of the children said.
Another one said: “there is no one to take care of me. That is why I have stopped schooling. I get at least 20 to 40 cedis a day but for about a week now, I haven’t gotten a job yet. And when I get the money I send it to my father”.
Role of Parents
Parents justify the root cause of their children involving themselves in galamsey activities with poverty. Tong Yin, a parent said; “it is not easy to get money for clothing and books for the children. If a child returns from school and there is food ready for him or her, that child will concentrate on studies but we don’t have enough to provide for the family. If I get financial support I will make sure that no child engages in galamsey activities again”.
Another parent, Suhudit Dong said her children are engaging in the galamsey activities because of poverty. “As I’m talking to you now, my husband and I are not educated so how can we get money to take care of the children? The children are involved in the mining in order to buy their school uniforms, sandals and books. They also pay their school fees out the galamsey money” She told me, adding; “when the mining is booming the children earn at least Ghc 20 to Ghc 80 a day”.
Teenage Pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is also rife at Gbane. Residents say, the miners there entice teenage girls with money they earn from their mining activities and end up getting them pregnant. The girls subsequently drop out of school.
A Seventeen year old girl in the area told me she was sixteen years when she became pregnant. “He told me he wants to marry me in the future but I refused. I later agreed. There was a funeral in our area so he invited me to his house and we had sex. We had sex twice on separate days and I later became pregnant” she narrated.
Damage of School infrastructure
Presently there are two basic schools at the Gbane community. One of them is the St. Anthony Basic School which is a public school with a 3-unit classroom block and 176 pupils. The other is the Bonsa International School, a private school which only has a 3-unit classroom structure built with mud. These two schools are close to each other and stand near to a Chinese mining company by the name, Shaanxi Mining Ghana Ltd.
The children from these two schools numbering about 400 learn and play in the midst of heavy duty vehicles and equipment owned by the mining company.
The walls of the St Anthony Primary School have developed deep cracks while its toilet facility is on the verge of collapse probably due to the frequent heavy underground blasts from the mining company’s activities.
Pupils Cannot Concentrate At School
The school children say they fear their lives are in danger. “When they (Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited) blast, the ground shakes and it is like we are going to fall down” one of them said. Another said “the smoke that comes out anytime they blast makes us sick always”.
Teachers of both schools have same fears as their pupils. One of them said; “Their (Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited) trucks make a lot of noise thereby disrupting classes. Even the school block can collapse at anytime because they have drilled underground and the whole community is hanging. The water we drink is no more safe for drinking”.
A teacher at the Bonsa International School, Alfred King Sharpstone said; “sometime ago one of their (Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited) cars run over a pupil’s feet. I don’t know if that child was compensated or not”.
Proprietor of the Bonsa International School, Joseph Baatputdamit Danka said pleas for the company to relocate the school seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
Authorities
Talensi District Director of Education, Faara Joachim admits the downward performance of school children in the Gbane community is as a result of the galamsey activities. He said the directorate is educating parents to take good care of their children
District Chief Executive for Talensi, Edward Awunure says he is not aware of school children engaging in galamsey activities but Nonetheless, as Chairman of the District Oversight Committee (DEOC) and the District Security Committee (DISEC), he will take the matter up at the assembly so that the necessary measures will be taken address the problem. Mr. Awunure also revealed plans of relocating the St Anthony Primary school. He said “plans are far advanced to relocate the school”. Construction works will kick start this October.
On the part of the Bonsa International School, the DCE said “last month the Shaanxi Mining Ghana lodged a complaint to my office that the owner of that school is putting up an additional structure after they had agreed to compensate the owner of the school”.
But the proprietor of Bonsa International School, Joseph Baatputdamit Danka disagrees with the DCE’s explanation. He said; “in Ghana everybody knows that GHC 5000 can’t build a school. They (Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited) asked me to come for GHC 5000 and I asked them to use the money to build a school and I will move the children there but they couldn’t”.
Meanwhile, assembly man for the Gbane Electoral Area, Bismark Azumah said several appeals he made to the District Assembly and the Regional Coordinating Council with regard to the two schools near the Chinese mine proved futile.
Recommendations
Moving forward, there is the need for public education of the people of Gbane on the negative effects of mining on the total development of children involved.
It is also important that stakeholders in the community channel more effort towards tackling the issue of children engaged mining, by enforcing child labor laws, and providing adequate school infrastructure.
VIDEO BELOW;
By: Joshua Asaah
Reporter and Presenter, A1 Radio, Bolgatanga
joshsaah@yahoo.com
The report is supported by the Media Foundation for West Africa in collaboration with STAR-Ghana.
