The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) is sounding an alarm about the serious implications of repurposing classrooms as shelters during emergencies.
According to GNAT, when classrooms are converted into emergency shelters, it disrupts the educational process during crises. GNAT’s General Secretary, Thomas Musah, expressed concern during an interview.
He pointed out that the current use of classrooms in areas affected by the Akosombo and Kpong Dams spillage could lead to children being forced into child labor because schools in these regions have been closed to accommodate stranded individuals.
“If you go to the developed world, there are places like community centres where in times of emergency, they carry the people there. But in Ghana, the classrooms become host centres in times of difficulty, and what that means is that teaching and learning will come to a standstill so long as this particular situation will not go.”
“And if you look at that particular area, it is along the lake and all the rivers around that fishing goes on, and so we are pushing the children there into child labour. And once they go there, they will not come back.”
Mr. Musah further emphasized the consequences of delays in providing relief items to help the affected people. He urged Ghanaians to pool their resources to ensure the affected individuals receive the necessary support.
“If care is not taken, and we take things for granted and things get out of hand at the place, there may be issues that we may not be able to contain because people may start demonstrating in ways that we may not like, and we don’t even know when it will end. And some of the children may even go back into child labour. We have long-term and short-term consequences, and the best way to go is for us all to find a solution to bring the people out of this situation.”
“We need to give it all the attention that it deserves to get them out of the situation that they find themselves in because some are bitter, and they are complaining and lamenting. And so let us all go to the aid of the people and see how best we can bring them out of the situation.”
