Work- for this term

As I have come to Ghana principally to work as a volunteer with the Ghana Education Service, a summary of what I have actually been doing  would be timely.

My role, in partnership with the local Special Education officer, Haruna, sits against a backdrop of a struggling basic education system in a region of subsistence agriculture. On any trip to Zebilla market, I feel that the same cedis (Ghana currency) are being traded from person to person, with no actual wealth being brought in from outside.

Basic education for all children is the goal. Kindergarten (ages 4 and 5), Primary ( age 5/6 upwards) and Junior High  (age 12 upwards) schools are all free, although each child must wear the school’s uniform, bring their own exercise books and pens and pay a small annual fee to the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). September is the start of the school year (left over from British colony days) and is therefore an expensive month for poorer families.

Although across Ghana there are sufficient trained teachers, posting to the poorer remote northern areas is unpopular. Therefore schools here are short of teachers, classes are large, with 75-100 pupils not uncommon in kindergarten and early primary. While some teachers have a teacher training certificate, and in senior high schools a degree qualification, others have been recruited as low paid Youth Employment or Pupil Teachers teachers on completing successfully high school exams. The commonly, and internationally held, misunderstanding that teaching younger children is somehow easier and needs less training flourishes here.  

Accommodation is limited with some kindergarten classes taking place in the school yard. The less popular, poorer schools lack furniture so children sit on a concrete floor.  Classrooms have thick concrete walls with either shutters covering the window space or decorated aerated bricks for light and ventilation. Many are painted in dark colours (it hides the dirt) and are as gloomy as caves. All have a serious shortage of books or any other learning materials. Basic sanitation regimes have to be imposed (worryingly, not always rigorously). Some schools lack toilet blocks (called urinals) and hand washing is arranged via large water bowls and jugs.

While enrolment into school is high for younger children, attendance rates drop dramatically within the first few years. Market day (every third day) sees typical lower attendances as children are required by families to earn necessary cash selling fruits and vegetables, although repeated campaigns stressing the importance of education are beginning to impact. Pupils are “kept back” if they do not reach the required standard to progress, swelling numbers in the earlier grades.  Beyond primary 2 and 3, class sizes begin to fall.

A primary 1 class- with pupils from 6 to 12 years old

Pupil with teaching and learning aid- the teacher has provided small sticks for counting