“We need to do something about Ghanaian children in what we call the syto schools – the public schools. They don’t have zooms in their homes,” these are the words of minority leader in parliament Haruna Iddrisu.

The Tamale South lawmaker made this appeal during a contribution on the floor of parliament in commemoration of the International Day for Education. The United Nations sanctioned day is held annually on January 24.

Haruna expressed particular concern over glaring disparity between children attending public schools as compared to those privileged to be attending private schools and having access to online study platforms.

“They (syto children) don’t even have television sets in their homes. And Mr Speaker I am saying so because if they lose their foundation years, forget it. This is the only period they can learn numeracy and literacy,” he added.

He decried how some of these children have spent the last eight months at home until the recent reopening of schools by government. He also asked how prepared the state was for the reopening amid the coronavirus spread.

“My concern is, while we celebrate this day what are we doing as a country today to assure Ghanaian children who have just reopened school. What is government doing for school people, are they protected?

“Are there sufficient measures to get them protected from the dangers of COVID? Are teachers sufficiently taken care of to manage themselves and to manage pupils on behalf of parents even as we deal with the COVID?" he questioned.

Touching on the theme of this year’s celebration: ‘Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 generation,’ he stressed that even though we are in extraordinary times, “I shudder to add that even in Ghana today, we are not being fair to Ghanaian children in public schools.”