No light, no network, no bridge: Jirapa’s deprived communities get new schools under SOCO

A journey through streams and valleys, roads cut off by the absence of bridges, communities without electricity or mobile network coverage, and residents who have to climb trees to make phone calls.

That is the reality of Siatori, Ullo-Gozu and Siiri, three deprived communities in the Jirapa Municipality of the Upper West Region.

Here, children walk more than three miles to access basic education, learning in dilapidated structures that community members themselves initiated with local support. But that story is changing.

Under the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project, funded by the World Bank and implemented by the Jirapa Municipal Assembly, new classroom blocks have been commissioned to bring education closer to these communities.

At Siatori, a newly constructed kindergarten (KG) block with ancillary facilities, executed by Licos Enterprise Limited, has been handed over to the community.

The community had long struggled without a proper early childhood education facility. The MP for Jirapa, Cletus Seidu Dapilaa, recalled supporting the community's self-help efforts with roofing materials in the past but said residents now had a befitting facility.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Jirapa, Peter N.N. To-ang, urged residents to send their children to school, particularly girls. He also admonished them to take good care of the facility.

But the real story of Siatori was told by the Assembly Member for Kunchene, Hon. Saadare Crispin, who has oversight responsibility for Siatori.

According to him, three communities, Kunchene, Sawali and Siatori, had been sharing one educational facility located at Kunchene, forcing children aged between four and six to walk almost three miles to school.

"Previously, Kunchene, Sawali and Siatori, that's three communities, were sharing one educational facility which is based at Kunchene, and our children used to walk all the way, almost three miles, before they could get to that school. It had been a challenge for children within the ages of four, five or six. They could not walk that distance, so, as a result, they were no longer attending school," he said.

He explained that a deep valley, which floods during the rainy season, cuts children off from both the school and the health facility at Kunchene. He therefore appealed to the MP to help secure a bridge for the community.

He also lamented the lack of electricity and poor mobile network coverage.

"This facility here, for instance, is an electrified facility that needs lights, but this community has no light, so we need electricity to enable this facility to function very well," he said.

On the network challenge, he added: "We have a very poor network challenge. Here, most of them have developed a certain strategy where they always look for a particular section where they can get at least a very minimal network signal to make a call. Some of them even have to climb trees."

He recounted his own experience, saying, "I had to even climb a certain tree before I could have a call with the planner for the programme. So, making calls here is a very terrible problem for us."

Despite these challenges, Crispin expressed optimism that the new facility would improve access to education and help produce great people from the community.

At Ullo-Gozu, the story was similar. The community had approached the MP for assistance to roof a self-initiated kindergarten structure. He responded by providing zinc sheets and roofing boards.

Today, Licos Enterprise Limited has constructed a befitting kindergarten block for the community.

Speaking at the commissioning, MP Cletus Seidu Dapilaa made a passionate appeal to parents to enrol their children in school and ensure they remain in the classroom.

"In this part of our area, we don't have gold, we don't have timber, we don't have diamonds. What we have is education. Let's encourage enrolment, let's ensure children come to school and stay in school," he said.

He also pledged to provide school uniforms for pupils who did not have them after noticing that many children were attending school without uniforms.

The MCE, Peter N.N. To-ang, stressed the importance of community ownership and urged residents to take responsibility for maintaining the facility.

"The facility is for the community. The headteacher will be here; the headteacher will go. One day I will be MCE; I will not be MCE. The MP will be MP; the MP will not be MP one day. But the community will always be there to take care of their own property," he said.

He urged residents not to regard the facility as the property of the MP, the Assembly or the SOCO Project, but as their own.

"So they shouldn't treat it like it's for the MP, it's for the Assembly or it's for SOCO. It's for them," he stressed.

He also warned that constructing modern educational infrastructure would serve little purpose if children did not attend school.

Siiri's story is even more touching. For years, the community had appealed for a junior high school (JHS) block.

The MP had previously supported residents with zinc sheets, bolts, and cement to roof a structure they had initiated themselves.

This year, Wonderful Jesus Limited was contracted to construct a three-unit classroom block with ancillary facilities. The sod was cut a few months ago, with a commitment to complete the project before December. True to that promise, the facility was commissioned before the end of the year.

At the commissioning, MP Cletus Seidu Dapilaa announced a new annual initiative to support pupils who complete their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and progress to senior high school.

He said the initiative would provide the necessary support to ease the financial burden on parents.

"I told the students not to worry after completion. When they complete, we will provide all the necessary logistics for them to proceed to senior high school. It's going to be a ritual, an annual event where the MP will always provide logistics to our first-years to cushion parents," he said.

He also expressed concern about BECE performance in the municipality and pledged to work with the MCE, the Paramount Chief and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to improve academic results.

The Paramount Chief of the Jirapa Traditional Area, Naa Dinaa Donglabong Ganaa III, said the projects represented an investment in the future of the communities.

"These young ones that we see hold the future. Our future teachers, nurses, MCEs, MPs are among these young ones in the classroom. So, if we are doing this, we are making sure that our future will be bright," he said.

He called on the Municipal Assembly to immediately demarcate all school lands and mark their boundaries to prevent encroachment.

The traditional ruler revealed that he was currently facing challenges retrieving school lands that had been encroached upon.

He warned that school lands were particularly vulnerable to encroachment as communities developed and the value of land around educational facilities increased.

"Most schools have issues when they have been there for some time because people begin to encroach, knowing that development is coming around the school area," he added.