You’re Making a Difference Here
GHANA
Ghana was, until very recently, one of the poorest countries in the world. Over the past few years, the nation has experienced unprecedented growth and development (IFAD report; African Development Bank). Although the lives of Ghanaians have improved greatly, the country still faces many challenges, especially in the education sector.
In Ghana, 18% of primary school age children are not enrolled in school and of those who are in school, 28% will drop out before completing primary school (UNESCO, 2012). Additionally, over 28% of the Ghanaian population is illiterate and out of all the current primary school classrooms, the government estimates that almost a quarter need repairs (World Bank, 2014; USAID, 2009).
PoP works with over 122 communities in Ghana to ensure that students overcome these and other barriers to accessing a quality education. To date, PoP has impacted over 24,000 students in Ghana.
VOLTA REGION
The Volta Region is located in southeastern Ghana, to the west of the Republic of Togo and just east of Lake Volta. In many of our partner communities in the region, PoP couples school builds with literacy programming in order to create sustainable change.
To date, we’ve built 125 schools in the Volta Region and have also provided our teacher training and educational programming to many PoP schools in the region.
Before a PoP School Build
The students of Abomayaw, Ghana were previously taught in unfavorable learning conditions. Kindergarten students were learning in open pavilions with unfinished walls and dirt floors, and without formal doors or windows. Additionally, the primary grade students attended class in an aging school structure that lacks formal windows and proper ventilation. These conditions were previously posing a hazard to student safety and wellbeing, as well as engagement and learning.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Thanks to your support, PoP was able to partner with the Abomayaw community to complete construction on a new three-classroom school build, which over its lifetime, will serve hundreds of students. The three classrooms will provide kindergarten students, who were previously learning in exposed and unfavorable conditions, the opportunity to learn in a new structure with formal classroom settings. These formal classrooms will provide them with a safe and engaging environment for academic growth. In addition to the new kindergarten classrooms, repairs were made and windows fitted to the primary students’ classrooms, providing the students with more light during class hours and proper ventilation. The build broke ground in the middle of May 2017 and was completed in October. The community was committed to providing up to 20% of the labor and resources necessary to complete construction. The parents and teachers of Abomayaw are so excited knowing their students now have access to a higher quality learning environment.
