Ghana School Aid wishes to add its tribute to a remarkable lady who passed away on 30 January 2013, aged 86. Clarice Garnett (latterly Clarice Howarth) was born in Rathmell, Yorkshire in 1927. After completing a science degree at Oxford, she left for Ghana in 1950, aged just 23. She joined Wesley Girls’ High School, Cape Coast as a biology teacher and Methodist missionary, and took over the headship in 1960, retaining it until her retirement in 1981 after more than 30 years at the school. She was awarded Ghana’s highest accolade, the Grand Order of the Volta, and in the UK, the MBE for services to education. Many former students occupy key positions in Ghanaian society, all are vocal about the debt they owe to their wonderful head teacher. Many services are being held to honour Clarice, they are a testament to a life wholly productive in every way which has helped shape the Ghana we know today. Ayikoo!
Monthly Archives: March 2013
Sabre Trust
The Sabre Trust is working in rural areas of Ghana to improve education. This part of their project inolves an intensive one-year teacher training programme for Kindergarten teachers. GSA has given the Trust a grant to provide KG resource boxes. The following is quoted from the Trust’s very informative website, http://www.sabretrust.org: “Sabre has developed a design for a resource box made from locally sourced and recycled materials that can complement teaching and small group activities. … The boxes contain building blocks, connecting toys, play mats and musical instruments, and the teachers will be supported to supplement them with resources that they can make themselves from recycled and reclaimed materials.”
UPDATE JAN 2014 Here are some extracts from the Teacher Training Programme Year 1 Report. “The key goal of this programme is to benefit young school children in Ghana by producing competent and compassionate kindergarten teachers familiar with the very specific learning needs of pre-primary pupils, skilled in an activity-based teaching and learning methodology which recognises the value of learning through play. […] The aim is to significantly enhance the quality of practical placements for trainee KG teachers enrolled on the diploma course. Through this intervention, the student teachers receive strong practical training and classroom experience of child-centred and activity-based learning, giving them the confidence to implement this approach when posted as newly qualified teachers. […]
Conclusion: The overwhelmingly positive final reflections of the programme’s impact by teachers, mentees and head teachers at the final cluster meetings are testament to the hard work that has been put in by all involved. All groups spoke of the improved changes in pupil behaviour, confidence and attendance at school. Credit was also given to the programme for enhancing the teachers’ own understanding of what kindergarten teaching should be and how teachers can implement strategies to achieve these goals. It is expected that the coming year will build on the foundations laid during this pilot year and use the lessons learnt to further develop the programme to be even more collaborative, consistent and effective.”
UPDATE 2015: Supporting Africa by Rural Endeavour! This charity focuses on Kindergarten education in the Cape Coast area. We voted £1000 to enable the charity to complete the training of 3 KG teachers.
Tuskegee International School
This is a school located in Balansa-Oyarifa, a few miles west of Accra, founded by an inspirational leader called Charles Yarfoh, originally from the Upper Western Region. Charles was not able to attend school himself for many years, because he was expected to look after the cattle. When he did get to school he made great progress, trained as an engineer and worked in the civil service. He wanted to give the same opportunity as he had had himself to children in a rural area, so he founded the Tuskegee School. He is being supported by Bev Greenberg, known as “Greenie”, from the US, and features in the website http://www.caringkidconnections.com.
Arigu Village School
The project involved a young woman called Jessica Brown who had been a volunteer living in Arigu village for several months. When she returned to the UK she ran the Brighton Half Marathon to raise funds for the school, which is much in need of support. GSA was able to add to the sum that Jessica had raised and £1000 was sent to help the village school, via German company who have taken the village as “their” charity.
Paga Community School
Impressively, this Upper Eastern Region community has built a senior secondary school just outside Paga, the border town on the road to Burkina Faso. They have finished the first teaching block, which is in use for SHS 1 and 2 classes, and are in the process of building another block. The hope is to construct a girls’ dormitory block so that girls do not have to walk the 2km to and from town each day. The GSA grants will go to building a well (drilling a bore hole) for clean water for the school.
The pictures show (1) a full classroom and (2) a helpful donkey on the site.
Update: Thomas Nabonadam, Assistant Field Securty Officer, Abidjan, has emailed to say that the GSA grant has been received by the school and they are proceeding with arrangements to drill the borehole.
Tampei and Kukuo villages near Tamale
The organisation involved in the application to GSA is Cooperation for Integrated Development Ghana (CID-Ghana) located in Tamale. They are assisting the local community in building a primary school block for the two rural communities, Tampei Kuduo and Kukuo Yapalsi. In the application Frank Dugasseh said: This is the work already completed: (1) Built the foundation to the floor level concrete; (2) Moulded over 6000 blocks for the superstructure; (3) Purchased two trips of aggretate sand.This is the work still needing to be done: (1) Build the superstructure walls and roof; (2) Plaster and paint.The GSA representative, Baako, has visited the project and given a very positive report of progress. The report has triggered the release of the second grant installment of £500 from GSA.
UPDATE Baako visited Tapeil Kukuo on behalf of GSA on 24th October 2013. He was met at the chief’s palace by the project committee of 8 men and 2 women (2 other women members were absent). The chairman stated that though they had started the school in a very small way, today they were proud of the type of school they were building with the help of organisations such as GSA, so that their children would have a decent school to attend. Baako continues: “After the meeting they took me to the chief and briefed him on our meeting. He thanked me for coming and presented some cola nuts as a sign of appreciation in accordance with the tradition. (See picture below.) After that we went to the project site and I took pictures from different angles. Indeed, there is still much to be done on the building. The meeting came to an end at approximately 12.10pm with the promise that I would let my report report reach GSA.”
Ghana School Aid 