The Busuama MA Basic School, located in the Kintampo North Municipality of the Bono East Region, is currently grappling with a critical shortage of teachers, a situation that is threatening the academic future of hundreds of children in the community and surrounding villages.

The school, which is the only educational facility serving Busuama and its neighbouring communities, now operates with just six teachers catering for pupils from Kindergarten through to the Junior High School level.

A school stretched to breaking point

The current staff distribution paints a grim picture of the challenges facing the school. Three teachers are responsible for Primary 1 to 6, while the remaining three handle Junior High School (JHS) 1 to 3 classes. Tragically, the Kindergarten, which accommodates more than 120 pupils, has no teacher at all.

Speaking to Joy News, the Headmaster of the school, Nawang Moses, disclosed that the situation was not always this dire. As of the last academic year, the school had a staff strength of nine teachers. However, three teachers were transferred without replacements, plunging the school into a severe teacher deficit.

“For the KG, we don't have a teacher at all. The teacher handling them was a volunteer teacher who had also left,” the headmaster lamented.

Primary and JHS levels also affected

The impact of the teacher shortage is not limited to the Kindergarten level. At the primary level, the three available teachers are forced to adopt a rotation system to cover all six classes, a situation that significantly compromises the quality of instruction.

At the JHS level, the three teachers are collectively responsible for teaching nine different subjects, a workload that is clearly unsustainable and is already reflected in the school's academic performance.

The headmaster noted that the situation is taking a toll on the school's overall academic output, as teachers are overstretched and unable to give each class the attention it deserves.

Furniture and learning materials also lacking

As if the teacher deficit were not enough, the school is also struggling with inadequate teaching and learning materials. The headmaster revealed that the lack of furniture for pupils is another major challenge, with the Kindergarten currently without chairs altogether.

“This is affecting the school's academic performance,” Mr Nawang added, appealing to the government, non-governmental organisations and benevolent individuals to come to the aid of the school.

A community's future at stake

The Busuama MA Basic School serves as the only hope for education for children in Busuama and its neighbouring villages. With the current state of affairs, parents and community members fear that the future of these children hangs in the balance.

The situation at Busuama is a stark reminder of the challenges facing rural education in Ghana, where inadequate teacher deployment and a lack of basic infrastructure continue to undermine efforts to provide quality education for all.

A call for urgent intervention

The headmaster and the community are appealing to the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, the Kintampo North Municipal Assembly and benevolent organisations to intervene urgently.

They are calling for the immediate posting of teachers, particularly for the Kindergarten, as well as the provision of furniture and teaching and learning materials to restore the school to a functional state.

For now, the more than 120 Kindergarten pupils of Busuama MA Basic School continue to wait, their futures uncertain, as the community prays for help to arrive before it is too late.