The Member of Parliament for Bunkpurugu, Abednego Bandim, has sounded a dire warning over the deepening humanitarian crisis in his constituency, where persistent local conflicts have led to a mass exodus of essential service staff, forcing schools to shut down due to a lack of educators.
Speaking while addressing members of the Bimoba Students Union, the MP lamented the stubborn refusal of teachers, nurses, and even National Service Personnel to accept or remain in postings to the area, leaving education and healthcare services decimated.
Mr. Bandim detailed a devastating staffing gap that spans the entire basic education structure, directly linking the chronic shortages to the insecurity caused by ongoing inter-clan and chieftaincy disputes in the region.
“You see a school from primary 1 to 6 in JHS, 1, 2, 3, and there is only one teacher. Some of the schools have closed down because of conflicts,” the MP revealed, stressing the dire implications for the district’s youth.
He explained that fear and the absence of essential services have created a revolving door for the few staff who reluctantly accept postings.
“When they post a teacher to Bunkpurugu, they don’t want to go. Even National Service, for one year, they don’t accept posting. When they accept, it’s because they are desperate to get jobs. But once they get the job and they go there, within a year or two, they seek transfers.”
This flight of qualified professionals perpetuates the cycle of poverty and marginalization in a region already grappling with significant developmental challenges, often exacerbating educational inequality seen in Northern Ghana .
To combat the crisis of non-acceptance and high attrition rates, Mr. Bandim has officially petitioned the Minister of Education to adopt a localized recruitment strategy, arguing that professionals who are indigenes of the constituency are far more likely to remain and serve their communities, regardless of the security challenges.
“I met with the Minister for Education, I think last week, and put before him a proposal to consider recruiting teachers from the constituency. Why? And posting them there because of conflicts, people from other parts of the country don’t like accepting postings to Bunkpurugu,” he stated.
This proposal echoes broader national discussions about the need for a decentralized teacher recruitment system that empowers local education offices to match staff who understand and are committed to the local context.
Adding to the constituency’s woes, Laar Yoobaar, Secretary to the EC Chair of the Bimoba Students’ Union, appealed directly to the MP—who also chairs Parliament’s Communication and Information Committee—to address a crippling lack of reliable internet and mobile network connectivity.
“We have been suffering from network challenges. And as someone who is the chairman of the communication committee, I think you can leverage your authority to get some of the network to mitigate the challenges that we are facing,” he urged.
For students, the network failure hinders academic research, online learning, and preparation for national examinations, placing them at a severe disadvantage against their peers in more connected parts of the country. The two-pronged crisis of insecurity and digital exclusion now threatens the very future of Bunkpurugu’s youth.