Only 16,271 Literates In Sissala West Because Of Poor Educational Infrastructure – MP

Member of Parliament for Sissala West, Hon. Mohammed Mohammed Adams Sukparu has lamented that less than half the population in his Constituency have any form of literacy at all.

Presenting a Statement on the Floor of Parliament about the poor state of educational infrastructure in his Constituency, he said there are only 16,271 literates in Sissala West out of over 40,000 constituents.

“Mr. Speaker, this problem of deteriorated infrastructure seems to contribute to the unacceptable literacy rate in the district which according to the Sissala West District Assembly has only 16,271 literates out of 40,678 individuals aged 11 and above in the district.’

Consequently, he said just a little over 5% of students who sit for exams to enter University make it.

“It comes as no surprise that the performance of students who sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) is unsatisfactory at best, and abysmal at worst; with only 5.3% making it to the tertiary level according to the District Assembly,” Hon. Sukparu said.

He blamed the situation on very inadequate investment in educational infrastructure in the Constituency.

According to reports, over 50% of basic schools in the Sissala West District study under dilapidated structures.

The population of Sissala according to the Sissala West District Assembly is 62,958. Out of this figure, a total of 28,457 are below age 15 representing nearly 50% of constituents. What this means then is that, almost half of the entire population in the district attends basic school without access to decent basic school infrastructure. 

There are only 60 basic schools in the Sissala district, 30 of which have no decent infrastructure.

“You will recall that on 31st December 2017, a primary school building collapsed in the Odoben Brakwa District in the Central region killing 6 Kindergarten pupils. Similar incidences have occurred in Nkurankan in the Eastern Region, and other parts of the country. I am not a prophet of doom, but I dare say we also risk such a calamity if nothing urgent is done in the Sissala West district,” Hon. Mohammed Sukparu said.

He called on the government and the Education Ministry, to as a matter of urgency, attend to the infrastructure deficit in the district.