Causing Financial Waste To State �Undersize Free School Uniforms Unable To Fit Pupils

INVESTIGATIONS CONDUCTED by the Daily Heritage reveal that hundreds of the free school uniforms distributed by the government as part of measures to address the bottlenecks facing pupils of public schools in the Okaikoi South Education Sub-metro have been left to rot. The uniforms which were supposed to be distributed to pupils who are apparently in tattered clothes or casual wear have been bagged in sacks for safe keeping due to its smaller sizes.Only five out of 30 free uniforms that were distributed to Kaneshie Primary School were able to fit pupils. Information picked up indicates that several of the uniforms have been sent to the Ghana Education Service for re-adjustment of the rather too small uniforms. �The uniforms do not even fit kindergarten pupils, they are too small. I have decided to pack the ones brought to my institution into the store room,� a school head said in an interview with the paper. The President, John Dramani Mahama, in his 2014 State of the Nation�s address, told parliament more than twelve million books were distributed last year as part of government�s measures to address the bottlenecks created by the lack of infrastructure and learning materials facing public schools across the country. Follow up checks by the paper revealed that the free exercise books distributed to basic school children in the country have indeed equipped pupils with the core tools they require for their education. In some selected schools visited by the paper, the various heads have taken stock of the first tranche of the free books distributed by the government, but had some reservations about their quality. According to the teachers, there has been a remarkable academic progress from last year as pupils did not have to now wait on their parents to provide their exercise books. Speaking to the paper in an interview, Victoria Wobeson, deputy head teacher at the Kaneshie Awudome Junior High School said she superintended the distribution of ten exercise books each to her pupils and noted the distribution has eliminated the delays which characterized lessons anytime school reopened. The Officer-In-Charge of the Okaikoi South Education Metro, Alfred Adjimackor, believes the supply of text and exercise books has been worth it. However, he had some reservations: �For the free uniforms that were distributed by the government, because of their smaller sizes, only few pupils have benefited from them. The rest have been bagged in sacks stashed away in storerooms and others returned to the education office.�