The Talensi District Assembly in the Upper East Region has handed over 640 desks to the District Education Directorate to help address a furniture shortage estimated at about 5,000 desks across schools in the district.
The furniture, comprising 600 dual desks and 40 hexagonal desks, was procured through the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and is expected to improve teaching and learning conditions in beneficiary schools.
District Chief Executive John Millim Nabwomya presented the furniture to the Education Directorate at the Assembly’s forecourt, urging school authorities to ensure that the desks are properly maintained.
According to figures provided by the Ghana Education Service (GES), the district currently faces a furniture deficit of approximately 5,000 desks, making the latest intervention part of efforts to address the shortage.
Speaking during the presentation, Mr Nabwomya reminded teachers, pupils and other education stakeholders that the furniture had been procured with public funds and should therefore be handled responsibly.
“I have a word for you and for our teachers here that whatever we have gotten here, all of us have contributed for the procurement of these ones. It has not come from any other source apart from our own money. When you take your payslip, look at the tax component. That money is part of the money that we have used to procure this one,” he said.
The DCE expressed concern about the poor maintenance of school furniture, noting that several schools across the district had broken desks that could have been repaired and returned to use.
He urged school authorities to pay greater attention to maintaining existing furniture rather than relying solely on the procurement of new desks.
“We know that the children, all of them, their own is to be cared for. They have no responsibility. And so if they are not handling them well, we are the people who suffer. So we should keep on producing new things. It’s about going back to repair old things. When you move around the schools in the district, there are a number of broken furniture,” he stated.
Mr Nabwomya warned that the failure to maintain the new furniture could force the Assembly to spend additional public funds on replacements instead of addressing other educational needs.
“If by the end of four years, five years, we can’t find any of these ones in the classroom, it’s a harm to we ourselves, not any other person called government. Because we are all the government. So I would urge you people to make sure that these ones are put into proper use and proper care, so it will last longer,” he added.
The DCE credited the government’s release of DACF resources for making the procurement possible.
He also disclosed that the district had received two new school facilities and was preparing to construct another to address congestion and improve access to education in underserved communities.
Receiving the furniture on behalf of the Education Directorate, District Director of Education Christiana Azure Ayinzoya thanked the Assembly for the intervention.
She disclosed that 22 schools would benefit from the first phase of distribution.
Madam Ayinzoya said additional schools would be considered when the Directorate receives another expected consignment of 600 dual desks.
She assured the Assembly that the furniture would be distributed and used appropriately to support teaching and learning.
A1 Radio | 101.1 Mhz | David Azure | Talensi
