School for Life (SfL), a non-governmental organisation focused on education development, has raised concerns over children abandoning school to engage in gold mining activities in parts of the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
The organisation says the situation threatens the educational prospects of children in mining communities, where the attraction of income from gold mining is reportedly drawing some pupils away from the classroom.
The District Field Officer for SfL’s Citizen-Led Action for Educational Accountability and Responsiveness in Ghana (CLEAR) project, Dorcas Zoogah, said the trend was particularly worrying because some children initially attend school but eventually drop out when they become old enough to participate in mining activities.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum in Tongo, Mrs Zoogah, who has worked with communities in the district since 2022, warned that the situation could have long-term consequences for the development of affected communities.
“Sometimes it’s terrible. I always feel like the future of those communities is so bad… You go to the mine, we didn’t say mining is bad, but education is way, way more important. The gold will go away. But ask yourself, in the next 10 years, where will your community be?” she lamented.
According to her, the problem extends beyond children leaving school, as some parents in mining communities also show little interest in participating in meetings intended to address educational challenges.
She explained that while parents in non-mining communities often turn out in large numbers for education-related engagements, mobilising parents in mining areas has become increasingly difficult.
“In mining communities, I have to park my motor and run from house to house, chasing them to come. Even when we bring it to their doorstep, they still don’t come. They think it’s all about money. Because they feel that when we come and talk, there’s no money there,” she said.
Mrs Zoogah further observed that in some schools located in mining communities, many of the pupils who remain in classrooms are children of migrant workers rather than children from the host communities.
She attributed this partly to the tendency for some local children to abandon school once they are considered capable of working at mining sites.
“A child is in school at a tender age who cannot go into mining. But when it gets to a stage where they can, they just leave and go. Even the girl child, parents use them,” she said.
The CLEAR Project Field Officer called for stronger collaboration among traditional authorities, community elders, parents, the District Assembly and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to address the situation.
She proposed the enforcement of community bylaws to prevent children from being engaged in mining activities and to hold individuals who employ them accountable.
“Imagine you put a ban saying at a tender age, if you go to mining community, they should not pick you. And you start arresting anybody who picks those children,” she suggested.
Mrs Zoogah maintained that protecting children’s access to education required the active involvement of families and community leaders, particularly in areas where mining provides an important source of livelihood.
School for Life has been implementing the CLEAR project in 10 communities in Talensi since 2022, with a focus on strengthening citizens’ participation in education delivery and improving accountability among education stakeholders.
A1 Radio | 101.1 MHz | David Azure | Talensi
