The Northern Network for Education Development (NNED) has called on the government to publish a comprehensive action plan to tackle Ghana’s growing classroom infrastructure deficit, warning that millions of children continue to be denied quality education due to inadequate learning facilities.
The appeal follows revelations in the 2025 Auditor-General’s Report that 10,730 basic schools across 13 regions operate without permanent classroom blocks, forcing more than three million pupils to study under trees, in churches, sheds and other temporary structures.
In a statement signed by its Coordinator, Mr. Gaskin Dassah, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale, the Network described the situation as a national emergency that demands immediate intervention.
NNED urged the government to make public a detailed roadmap identifying the affected schools, implementation timelines, funding commitments and monitoring mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability in addressing the classroom shortage.
The Network also appealed to the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, and Members of Parliament to prioritise the construction of safe, accessible and well-equipped classroom facilities in underserved communities.
According to the statement, the problem is particularly severe in northern Ghana, where many pupils continue to receive lessons under trees or in temporary structures that leave them exposed to extreme weather, dust, noise and other disruptions.
It noted that the poor learning environment adversely affects teaching and learning, contributes to low attendance, weakens pupils’ concentration and ultimately impacts academic performance.
The organisation warned that the persistent infrastructure gap continues to widen educational inequalities between urban and rural communities, with girls, children with disabilities and pupils from low-income households among those most affected.
“NNED believes that no child should be denied quality education simply because of where they were born,” the statement said.
The Network emphasised that meaningful investment in classroom infrastructure is essential to improving learning outcomes and achieving equitable access to quality education nationwide.
It cautioned that Ghana’s broader development goals would remain difficult to attain if millions of children continue to study in unsafe and inadequate environments, insisting that urgent and coordinated action is needed to end the long-standing phenomenon of schools under trees.
