Growing up as kids, we all had scenic dreams of a beautiful future... A beautiful tomorrow. We wanted to be the doctors, the lawyers, the pharmacists, the medical laboratory scientists, the engineers, the journalists, the teachers, the molecular scientists and so on. The list is endless... Whatever our dreams were, we all had the sweet flavor of regaling our listeners with tales of our untold future careers when asked what we wanted to become.

 

The sea of these dreams couldn't have come into reality without an epic journey of good educational system and unbending determination.  Some survived the air of educational crises whiles others got drowned in the vortex of academic despair secondary to appallingly barren educational background. 

The wave of educational reality relegates us to an embarrassingly new low as the days go by. Our educational plight persists but on ever larger scales.  Our educational system is bedeviled by a myriad of problems: some students still study under trees and anytime it rains classes are brought to a halt, lack of teaching and learning materials, inadequate trained teachers among others have facilitated the decline of our educational system.

A visit to a number of rural African communities, reveals the failure of stakeholders of education, district assemblies and political leaders to provide public amenities like schools, libraries, toilets et cetera. This has been the bane with many a country on the continent. As a result of this irresponsible neglect, many pupils in rural African communities receive tuition under trees and in some occasions under dilapidated structures predisposing them to death traps.

A report by myjoyonline.com on 27th February, 2016, indicates that, 600 schools under trees were eliminated. Below is the statistics:

 

Ashanti region............... 49

Brong Ahafo............... 94

Central region .............45

Eastern region............ 81

Greater Accra region....... 6

Northern region............ 30

Upper East region...... 56

Upper West region...... 103

Volta region............ 94

Western region....... 42.

However, a current report by citifmonline.com indicates that, there are 334 basic schools under trees.

In South Africa, pupils of Zandise Junior primary school wake up to the same nightmare as trees have become their classrooms. Same is true for parts of Northern Nigeria and nearly all rural communities in Africa.

Another area of chief concern is the lack of furniture. The sad spectacle of pupils kneeling and lying down to write, is not uncommon in schools that are furniture dearth, most especially in remote communities. These kids have become objects of educational scorn and ridicule on the continent for far too long. Hopelessness stirs their dreams each passing day...

Last but not least, is the silent poverty which adds a rung to our ladder of failure. The academic poverty of professional teachers has over the years gone from bad to abysmal. The few available professional teachers are unwilling to face the austerities of life in rural communities. According to Mail and Guardian paper, at Zandise Junior primary school in South Africa, one teacher taught all the grades for over 8years now.

How long shall these pupils watch on as the fragile pages of their educational lives unfold itself? How long shall their dreams continue to fade and fade as their source of support continues to end on a note of uncertainty?  How long shall the fatalistic air of our poor systems continue to blight the future of our generational leaders? How long shall our educational system continue to hit rock bottom?

To meet the growing whims of educational and developmental tides, to transcend, advance and get to the pinnacle we need all hands on deck... Stakeholders of education, district assemblies, and political leaders must respond to this clarion call for a positive change by providing standard schools, adequate teaching and learning materials, connecting rural communities to the national grid and giving incentives to teachers who work in rural communities.

It is hoped that when this is done, the yawning gap between rural and urban folks will be bridged and we can await the next generation of leaders who will contribute a positive new paradigm shift to making Africa, one of the economic powers of the world.. Together, let us make this possible...

SAF, making Africa a better place for all..

John Bosco Zielley writes.....

(One of SAF's authors)