In the farming community of Kuren in the Dormaa Central Municipality, education begins not at a desk, but on bare concrete.
At Kuren M/A Primary and Junior High School, hundreds of pupils, from Kindergarten through to JHS are compelled to sit on the floor during lessons due to a severe shortage of classroom furniture.
When Asaase News visited the school, young children were seen hunched over exercise books placed on their laps, carefully forming letters while seated on the ground. In some classrooms, the absence of blackboards further complicates teaching, leaving instructors to improvise in already difficult conditions.
School authorities say the furniture crisis is seriously undermining quality teaching and learning.
“The situation is affecting concentration and performance,” one of the headmasters said. “When pupils sit on the floor for long hours, it becomes uncomfortable and discouraging. It also makes effective teaching very difficult.”
A Community’s Only School Under Strain
Kuren, with an estimated population of about 10,000 residents, relies solely on Kuren M/A Primary and JHS for basic education. The school currently enrolls approximately 862 pupils, but infrastructure has failed to keep pace with growing numbers.
From KG to JHS, many children sit directly on the bare floor to learn, a reality school leaders describe as a “serious furniture deficit.”
Beyond the shortage of desks and chairs, the school faces multiple challenges: inadequate textbooks, lack of uniforms for some pupils, limited access to potable water, and poor telecommunication network connectivity.
Frank Agyei, Headmaster of Kuren M/A Primary School, identified water access as one of the most pressing concerns.
“Access to water is a major challenge. It affects hygiene and the well-being of both pupils and staff,” he noted.
“Even communication is difficult because the network in the community is poor.”
Sanitation Burden on School Facility
The school’s sanitation infrastructure is also overstretched. Its toilet facility serves not only pupils and teachers but the entire Kuren community, which lacks a public place of convenience.
Assembly Member for the area, Yeboah Collins, described the situation as overwhelming.
“The whole community depends on the school’s toilet facility because we do not have one,” he explained. “Combined with the furniture deficit, this is seriously hindering teaching and learning.”
Teachers and pupils shared their frustrations, describing daily discomfort and the difficulty of maintaining focus in such conditions. Despite these hardships, attendance remains steady, a testament to the community’s determination to prioritise education.
A Call for Urgent Intervention
Education stakeholders warn that conditions such as these risk widening the gap between rural and urban schools. Without immediate intervention, the quality of education in Kuren may continue to suffer.
School authorities and community leaders are appealing to government agencies, corporate bodies, and benevolent organisations to provide desks, improve classroom facilities, ensure access to water, and expand sanitation infrastructure.
For the children of Kuren, the desire to learn remains unwavering. What they now seek is not sympathy—but support to replace bare floors with desks and restore dignity to their classrooms.
Report by Daniel Donkor in the Bono region
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