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As lawmakers in Ghana’s Parliament discuss how to build for themselves a ultramodern Chamber at an estimated cost of $200 million, pupils of Gbeo D/A Primary School in the West Mamprusi District of the North East Region are compelled to sit on stones and lie on the floor to learn.

Last Friday the planned construction of the 450-seater parliamentary Chamber
was announced when members of the Parliamentary Service Board received a model for the proposed new Chamber.

Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Kyei Mensa-Bonsu, said “we all think that the facility should not exceed a certain amount; that is $200 million. We are looking at anything between $150 million and $200 million.”

The announcement was greeted with agitations from some Ghanaians who believe the amount could be use to build relevant social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals.

And as the debate rages on, the pupils are having butts on hard rocks for hours to learn.

Constructed in 1990, the Gbeo Primary School has not seen any facelift or renovation which compels pupils to go home anytime it rains due to the destruction of the school building roof.

The Gbeo D/A Primary School lacks furniture from nursery to class six.

With only three classrooms and a student population of over 200 from nursery to Primary six, management of the school are compelled to practice the multi-grade system. This according to the headteacher of the school, Benjamin Apuri, makes it difficult for effective learning

He called on government, the Ghana Education Service, GETFund, and the Ministry of Education to go to their aid. Rita, a class five pupil of the school narrated her ordeal to DGN Online, saying she experienced regular back and body pains which was as a result of her sitting posture.

“For long hours I sit or lie on the floor to take my lessons. My fear is that my spine will be affected in the future or I will develop a very chronic disease like asthma, or any respiratory disease,” she says.