The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare, has disclosed that seven out of 10 primary 6 pupils in rural areas do not make it to Junior High School and miss out on enjoying the Free Senior High School policy.
He said the country should be concerned about the rural-urban divide in basic education, which keeps deepening.
“If you look at primary-high school transition, that is the greatest point of the dropout. At the national level, about 92 percent of students from primary school are able to cross from primary school to junior high school,” he stated in his opening remarks at the ongoing Media General National Policy Dialogue on Achieving Improved Basic Education Outcomes.
He noted that about 18 percent of the pupils in deprived areas do not succeed in transitioning to JHS1, as compared to about eight percent who do not cross to JHS1 in urban areas.
He attributed this problem to a lack of infrastructure and inadequate school facilities in nearby communities in rural areas.
He added that in certain communities, some primary 6 pupils are made to report to JHS 1 with their desks.
“In the deprived regions, you find that 82 percent, which means that 18 percent are dropping out between P6 alone and junior high school one.
“Now the reason for these dropouts and the poor survival, especially in the deprived parts of the country are due to three main reasons, limited infrastructure and a lack of adequate primary schools are major factors in causing dropouts, and availability of teachers,” he stated.
“There are schools in Kintampo North where one requires their own desks to be able to gain admission to a junior high school,” said Kofi Asare.