You’re Making a Difference Here
Through your unwavering commitment, exceptional advocacy and generosity of time, treasure and talents, you’re making possible a quality learning environment for hundreds of students and teachers in Adzinukorpe.
WHY 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 139 communities in Ghana to ensure that students overcome these and other barriers to accessing a quality education. Currently, PoP is impacting over 40,000 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 130 schools in the Volta Region and have also provided our teacher training and educational programming to many PoP schools in the region.
Your Impact in Adzinukorpe
Through your support, PoP has partnered with the Adzinukorpe community to build five new classroom units. This school is now providing the appropriate amount of space for all students, with new furniture to support learning.
On November 22, 2018 the first Promise Committee meeting took place in Adzinukorpe, where the 500th Pencils of Promise school was set to break ground in December 2018. The Adzinukorpe community is largely made up of farmers, weavers and market people, situated in the district of Ketu North, Volta Region. The meeting was attended by 13 Promise Committee members, Pencils of Promise staff, the headmaster of the school and a number of community members that were interested in supporting the construction of the new school. Prior to the meeting, the community had already collected their 20% of locally-found material (sand and chippings) and determined where the structures would be located.
While at the meeting, PoP discussed some of the issues facing the students in their previous structure. The overwhelming response was that the classroom would flood whenever it rained and that it was too small. The students are very excited to be able to learn in a space that will not be affected by weather. The headteacher at the Adzinukorpe Basic Schools also discussed how student enrollment was decreasing due to the old structure’s condition, but shared that, since the announcement of Pencils of Promise coming to support the community in building a new structure, enrollment had increased. He mentioned that the new school structure will encourage students to attend school and increase excitement around learning.
We officially broke ground on this landmark school on December 11, 2018. With the tireless dedication of the Adzinukorpe community, construction progressed well, and the new Adzinukorpe Basic Schools were officially inaugurated on March 14, 2019. Students, teachers and other members of the community came out for the ceremony, celebrating the incredible impact this school will have on the lives of nearly 1,000 students and teachers alike. Your support will enable the children of Adzinukorpe to reach their full potential and promise, for generations to come — thank you.
