A Looming Crisis: The paradox of healthcare and academic work in SHSs – Yaa Serwaa writes

Students Need Health to Learn in Ghana's Senior High Schools

In Ghana’s Senior High Schools, a health crisis is brewing. This issue affects students' ability to learn. It is not about grades or discipline but basic healthcare.

Many school clinics are poorly equipped. They often lack medical supplies and trained staff. Students with illnesses like malaria are turned away. They are sent to community hospitals instead of receiving care at school. Parents must pick up their sick children, causing delays that could be avoided.

Ideally, students should receive first aid from qualified nurses. They should be stabilized before being referred to better facilities. Unfortunately, this does not happen due to a lack of resources and trained personnel.

Most schools do not have a certified nurse on staff. Physical education teachers often fill this role with limited training. While they try their best, this approach is unsafe and unsustainable.

Early health screenings are also lacking in many schools. Screenings often occur only in the second year for students. This leaves serious conditions undiagnosed and untreated, putting students at risk.

The tragic case at Aburi Girls’ SHS highlights this failure. A student's health concerns were ignored until it was too late.

This situation affects learning as well as health. Healthy students perform better academically and mentally. Studies show that access to healthcare improves student performance and resilience.

Delays in screening teams hinder early detection of health issues. School administrators struggle to equip health facilities with limited funds. Parent-Teacher Associations provide sporadic support but cannot sustain it long-term.

Heads of schools write letters seeking help from NGOs while using academic funds for basic medications like paracetamol.

We are failing our students by expecting them to learn without proper healthcare support. How can we promote holistic education when sick children lack basic medical care?

The problem extends beyond just drugs and nurses; it involves policy direction and funding priorities as well. School healthcare must be prioritized alongside feeding programs, textbooks, computers, and electricity.

Urgent Actions Needed:

1. The Ministry of Education must create a comprehensive school health policy.
2. This policy should include guidelines and funding allocations for school health.
3. The Ghana Education Service needs resources for effective implementation.
4. Establish fully equipped clinics in every Senior High School with certified nurses.
5. Make health screenings mandatory upon student admission.
6. Train school health coordinators (nurses or physician assistants) for oversight.
7. Implement a national digital health profile system for early intervention.

Without these reforms, we risk losing promising students to preventable conditions. Teachers will face life-and-death decisions without proper training, making schools unsafe for vulnerable children needing support.

As we invest in curriculum reforms and infrastructure, we must prioritize student health as the foundation of learning.

Policymakers need to make school health a national priority now! Invest in it, institutionalize it, enforce it—our students deserve nothing less!

—Yaa Serwaa Addai
Teacher, Advocate, Parent
Email: [email protected]
Accra