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 133 communities in Ghana to ensure that students overcome these and other barriers to accessing a quality education. To date, PoP has impacted over 41,000 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 over 150 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
Prior to the PoP build, students of Shia, Ghana did not have access to formal classrooms. Instead, some studied inside a makeshift structure made of wood and corrugated metal, while others sat underneath a mango tree. The mango tree provided students with shade but did little to shelter them from flying debris, dust and other distractions from the school courtyard. During rainy days, all students would retreat into the already overcrowded provisional structure. The structure lacked formal walls, which allowed conversations from adjacent classrooms and noise from the surrounding environment to permeate, making it difficult for students to focus and concentrate.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Community members recognized that these conditions were not conducive to learning and were eager to provide their children with a proper education environment. With your help, such a change was made possible. PoP worked closely with the Shia community for over nine months to build their new school. The build broke ground Fall 2015 and was completed June 2016.
The run-down dirt roads leading into Shia made it difficult to get construction supplies into the community and the absence of water required additional labor. Despite these challenges, Shia’s teachers and community members remained dedicated to the project.
Because of you, PoP and the Shia community were able to build a new three-classroom school that will provide hundreds of students access to a higher quality learning environment for many years to come. The parents and teachers of Shia are happy and excited knowing their students now have access to a higher quality learning environment.