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 students of Abutiakope were being taught in provincial classrooms without a formal structure. The school was severely overcrowded, and the entire student body was kept in two classroom blocks. Both kindergarten and first grade students attended class in a structure with a leaking roof and cracked floors. Another deteriorating classroom of the school was built in 1938, which housed additional students. These conditions posed a hazard to student safety and well-being, as well as to engagement and learning.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Through your support, PoP partnered with the Abutiakope community to build a new six-classroom school. This school provides the appropriate amount of space and safe infrastructure for all students to learn and thrive. The community remained involved and dedicated to the build process, contributing 20% of the labor and materials required for construction. Because of your support, over 400 students now have access to a higher-quality learning environment that supports their full potential and promise.