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
Previously, the primary students of Bukarikope attended class in makeshift classrooms under a small mud roof, with no formal windows or doors. Additionally, a few grades utilized church rooms as classrooms. These conditions posed a hazard to student safety and wellbeing, as well as to engagement and learning.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Through your support, PoP has partnered with the Bukarikope community to complete a beautiful new three-classroom school. This school not only provides the appropriate amount of space for all students—it offers an environment that is conducive to learning and growth. The Bukarikope Basic School broke ground in the first half of 2018 and progressed well, thanks in large part to the involvement and dedication of the community, who contributed to the labor and materials required for construction. We officially completed construction in the summer of 2018, and inaugurated the school shortly thereafter. The community is so enthusiastic knowing that their students now have access to a higher-quality learning environment!