You’re Making a Difference Here
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 142 communities in Ghana to ensure that students overcome these and other barriers to accessing a quality education. Currently, PoP is impacting over 35,000 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.
Before a PoP School Build
The kindergarten students in Dafor-Tornu were learning in provincial classrooms made of mud structures. The mud structures had many cracks and holes, rendering the structures in danger of collapsing. Additionally, the kindergarten classrooms were experiencing severe overcrowding with insufficient space for all currently-enrolled students to learn. There was not enough furniture for the kindergarten students and many had to share small desks. This environment posed a danger to student safety and wellbeing, as well as to engagement and learning.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Because of your support, PoP and the Dafor-Tornu community worked together to build a new three classroom block. These classrooms will provide students with sufficient space to learn and thrive. In addition, the school’s new structure will keep students safe and sound. The Dafor-Tornu MA School was completed in July 2019, and the community was eager to contribute to the labor and materials needed for construction. Students now have access to a high-quality learning environment that will help them unlock their promise!
