We start the day by visiting the local schools all three of which are supported by TEABAG. One at Onyadze is a Junior High School taking students from 11 to 15 which is the end point of free education in Ghana. It is well run and efficient, and we have a brief chat with the teachers. The head is away at a meeting so we do not stay long.
The next school is at Abrekum, which is also a coastal village, but one that is much poorer than Mankoadze. The road down to it is full of potholes and you have to drive from one side of the track to the other to avoid them. There had been a thunderstorm in the night, and so the top was very soft. We gave a lift to one of the teachers from the main road to the school. He had been waiting some time, when we passed by. We were greeted very warmly by a member of staff, and shown round the classes. All have wooden desks with 2 or 3 children sitting at them, depending on size and about 40 children to a class. There are no resources, just a rather old chalk board on which the chalk becomes difficult to read. A lot of the teaching is cloze procedures, or traditional chalk and talk. Chickens pass through the class too, usually quietly. The children were delighted to have their photos taken - there were lots of noisy cheers! We left the teacher with some pens and notebooks, and were not brave enough to hand them out ourselves - that way lies riot! Fortunately it was the beginning of a break so we did not have too disruptive an effect on the teaching.
We visited the primary school in Mankoadze too. The head teacher was hard at working slumped over his desk on the verandah of one of the buildings He clearly operates a clean desk policy. No doubt a lot of thinking was being done. At the moment the school has a full complement of teachers. Sometimes that is not the case, and then the children sit peacefully in their desks waiting for something to happen.
At College, the year 2 catering students were doing their practicals. Coleslaw, bread rolls, meat stew with saffron rice and topped off by bread and butter pudding. I got to try out the bread rolls and bread and butter pudding and they were both delicious. They are part of the Ghanaian curriculum, though nearly all the villagers do not have access to an oven.
Some of the students had been to an Entrepreneurial class that morning. This is a curriculum topic that all the students study, and is a very valuable part of the curriculum. Often workers will give you the price for something which reflects just the price of the raw materials. They are then disappointed when you come to pay them and they want more money than has been agreed to pay for their effort. Teaching accurate costings and factoring in time - realistically - is an essential part of the curriculum.
Castro, the head of the College, and I were then called to a meeting between the head of the village and ICCES, the organisation that is causing us problems. The chief gratifyingly informed them of how much he valued our support. The Director, who has personally been very difficult, was 'unfortunately' unable to attend, so he sent 6 of his staff instead. The 6 delivered a letter to the chief and then came to the College to deliver a copy to us. It's message was to suggest that ICCES should have day to day responsibility for the College. Many of the ICCES run colleges are badly failing, and his attempt to take control of ours is probably to rescue his reputation just before the election. We will have to fight this one immediately and for that purpose it is valuable that I am here at the moment. Some more interesting Ghanaian politics might ensue I think!
The next school is at Abrekum, which is also a coastal village, but one that is much poorer than Mankoadze. The road down to it is full of potholes and you have to drive from one side of the track to the other to avoid them. There had been a thunderstorm in the night, and so the top was very soft. We gave a lift to one of the teachers from the main road to the school. He had been waiting some time, when we passed by. We were greeted very warmly by a member of staff, and shown round the classes. All have wooden desks with 2 or 3 children sitting at them, depending on size and about 40 children to a class. There are no resources, just a rather old chalk board on which the chalk becomes difficult to read. A lot of the teaching is cloze procedures, or traditional chalk and talk. Chickens pass through the class too, usually quietly. The children were delighted to have their photos taken - there were lots of noisy cheers! We left the teacher with some pens and notebooks, and were not brave enough to hand them out ourselves - that way lies riot! Fortunately it was the beginning of a break so we did not have too disruptive an effect on the teaching.
We visited the primary school in Mankoadze too. The head teacher was hard at working slumped over his desk on the verandah of one of the buildings He clearly operates a clean desk policy. No doubt a lot of thinking was being done. At the moment the school has a full complement of teachers. Sometimes that is not the case, and then the children sit peacefully in their desks waiting for something to happen.
At College, the year 2 catering students were doing their practicals. Coleslaw, bread rolls, meat stew with saffron rice and topped off by bread and butter pudding. I got to try out the bread rolls and bread and butter pudding and they were both delicious. They are part of the Ghanaian curriculum, though nearly all the villagers do not have access to an oven.
Some of the students had been to an Entrepreneurial class that morning. This is a curriculum topic that all the students study, and is a very valuable part of the curriculum. Often workers will give you the price for something which reflects just the price of the raw materials. They are then disappointed when you come to pay them and they want more money than has been agreed to pay for their effort. Teaching accurate costings and factoring in time - realistically - is an essential part of the curriculum.
Castro, the head of the College, and I were then called to a meeting between the head of the village and ICCES, the organisation that is causing us problems. The chief gratifyingly informed them of how much he valued our support. The Director, who has personally been very difficult, was 'unfortunately' unable to attend, so he sent 6 of his staff instead. The 6 delivered a letter to the chief and then came to the College to deliver a copy to us. It's message was to suggest that ICCES should have day to day responsibility for the College. Many of the ICCES run colleges are badly failing, and his attempt to take control of ours is probably to rescue his reputation just before the election. We will have to fight this one immediately and for that purpose it is valuable that I am here at the moment. Some more interesting Ghanaian politics might ensue I think!
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