Some basic schools have just 2 or 3 teachers despite needing 9 – Right To Play

Severe teacher shortages in some remote Ghanaian communities are jeopardizing children's education and exposing them to child labor, according to Right To Play. The organization reports that some basic schools lack as few as two or three teachers, despite needing nearly three times that number. This shortage, uncovered through recent monitoring of Right To Play's My Life, My Rights (MLMR) and My Rights, My Future (MRMF) projects, is impacting the quality of education and making it harder to safeguard children at risk of child labor.

Julius Kwami Tsatsu, Project Manager of the My Life, My Rights project, highlights the issue of overcrowded classrooms, where schools are forced to merge grades due to the lack of adequate teaching staff. Tsatsu notes that the teacher shortage is particularly acute in underserved regions, where schools struggle to meet the staffing requirements necessary to effectively educate children.

Harrison Akubor, Head of Office at Right To Play Ghana, adds that distance between satellite communities and main settlements also poses a significant challenge to children's access to education. Many children rescued from child labor reside in these far-flung communities, making it difficult for them to regularly attend school.

Right To Play is collaborating with education authorities to address these issues, including by deploying teachers to remote areas. The organization's interventions are also empowering children to advocate for their rights, with around 90 percent of those reached by the My Rights, My Future project now actively promoting their rights.

Josephine Baffoe, Project Manager of the My Rights, My Future project, emphasizes that the project has significantly increased children's awareness of their rights and responsibilities, enabling them to speak up against violations. Right To Play stresses that addressing these challenges requires strengthening community child protection structures, improving access to quality education, and empowering children and their families.

The organization calls for greater collaboration among communities, education authorities, and child protection institutions to overcome the identified gaps and ensure vulnerable children remain in school and are protected from child labor.