Teaching in rural communities in Ghana comes
with its own problems. The common worry of most teachers in rural communities
are the lack of electricity, network connectivity, bad roads, hospitals and
many more. The sad truth is that most teachers in rural communities have grown
thick skin to these challenges and they do not complain as much. It is as
though living without these vital social amenities is not that serious.
There is another problem that teachers usually
do not talk about but it’s very worrying just as those mentioned earlier.
Most people in rural communities live in
abject poverty and it can be very serious to the extent that parents are not
able to afford the basic necessities of life. Parents are mostly not able to afford basic
items such as pen, pencils, erasers and books that is needed by their wards.
How teachers are able to teach without these basic classroom items remains a
miracle. The level of poverty I have seen in some rural communities is one that
I never envisaged. In fact I wouldn’t wish such level of poverty to my enemies.
It is that bad!!
Some teachers do take the initiative to
support some of the pupils they teach but the question is how far can they go?
The number of pupils in this economic situation is just overwhelming to think
of supporting each and every one. How emotionally draining could that be –
willing to support but unable to do so.
In my more than five years of teaching in a
rural community, I have come to really understand the sort of emotional pain
teachers go through watching these innocent and poor pupils. These kids, due to
poverty may not even make it to high school. It appears the future of these
kids have been defined from the very day they were born into these rural communities.
Poverty has been their “better half”
It is very devastating and emotionally
difficult to watch on helpless. Education is a right but for these young ones
it has become a privilege.
As a teacher I do not see
anything more painful than watching pupils miss out on quality education and
not being able to help. It has become very difficult for most teachers watching
on whiles the futures of young and innocent kids are seemingly crushing in
poverty. Their potentials and talents appears to be going down the drain.
We know exactly what to do to
change the fortunes of these rural kids but do we see any light at the end of
the tunnel? Your guess may be good as mine…
Teachers in rural communities
have become witnesses
of naked poverty and things have to change!
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