Monthly Archives: December 2016

Shafieya Primary School

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Mubarick Seidu, a teacher in Shafieya, emailed GSA in August 2016 with the following message:  “Currently we have 14 teachers.  We have 400 pupils from Kindergarten 1 to Primary 6.  We have numerous challenges in the school but what we need currently is the completion of classrooms which have been built and roofed but lack windows, doors, plastering and floors.  Furniture is also a problem:  sometimes, pupils in P1  and P2 have to sit on the bare floor to do their exercises.  We do hope you will come to our aid.”  He added later that labour would be provided by the community and that water was not a problem as there was a well in the school. Mr. Seidu also provided estimates of costs.

GSA agreed a grant of £1240 and our representative in Tamale, Salifu Baako, visited the school both before and after the work was done.  We received these pictures in November 2016.  Congratulations to all for the wonderful and rapid work!

p5-and-p6-in-need-of-renovation-shafieya-pr-sch-1 The building before renovation

p5-p6-classroom-before-renovation-1 A classroom before renovation

concrete-verandah-1 The beautiful new verandaconcreting-floors-at-shafieya-pr-sch-1 A newly screeded floor p6-at-work-in-their-new-classroom-shafieya-pr-sch-1 One of the new classrooms

new-doors-and-shutters-p6-shafieya-pr-sch-1 Brilliant new shutters and doors

Plato Academy, Bolgatanga

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This school was previously known as “Firm Foundation”. (You can read earlier posts on this website by clicking on the firm-foundations tag.) Following a presentation by Dr. Anafu at our 2014 AGM, a grant of £1400 was sent for work on the building.  Jo Hallett visited this privately-run primary school in June 2016 and received a very warm welcome.  It is situated in the middle of many other buildings on the edge of Bolgatanga.  Seven or eight classes are based in ground floor rooms, in reasonable repair.  The classes were very well ordered and clearly good teaching was going on.  Jo was impressed at the level of the pupils’ reading ability.  The GSA grant to renovate the building was much appreciated and had been put to good use.  The school is now constructing a second floor but progress is slow

.20160623_152141-1 Work on the second floorimg008-2 Break time!

20160623_150152-1 Children in class

20160623_150659-1Children in class

Zawiyatul Irfan Primary and Jonshegu Junior High School

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These schools lacked furniture.  The pictures show Zawiyatul which has 158 pupils, and Jonshegu which has 90 pupils but had only 20 dual desks.  The Headteachers Mr. Issah and Mr. Iddrisu requested help in purchasing more desks.  Our representative in Tamale, Salifu Baaku, visited the schools and supported their requests. They suggested hard-wearing metal desks.  GSA sent a grant of £870 for the construction of 50 dual desks.  The pictures show the situation before the desks were delivered.  We await a report on how the pupils get on with them as sitting on metal in a hot climate would not be everybody’s cup of tea!

zawiatu-1    Zawiyatul children on benches

Zawiyatul   zawiatu-4

jonshegu-photo1  Big boys, 3 to a desk, Jonshegu

img_6275The new desks

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UPDATE  February 2017  Flush with the success of the metal desks, we have agreed a further grant of £600 for the provision of teachers’ tables and chairs and cupboards for storage.

UPDATE  May 2017  Here is an extract from a letter received in April from Headteacher Sumani Issah: The school initially faced with furniture challenges which your good organization solved for us.  As Oliver Twist asks for more, we tendered in an application for teachers’ tables and chairs as well as school cupboards.  Your good organization gave us ten tables and chairs and 6 cupboards. … 

Thanks and blessings followed (ed).  And we have some pictures:

Let’s read

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Jo Hallett writes:  Let’s Read is now working with over 30 schools in the Paga West District, in partnership with Afrikids.  Only 13% of pupils reach the expected levels in reading and writing after 6 years of schooling.

We have introduced a structured phonics scheme, with a wide range of resources, regular workshops for teachers, and on-going support from local educational advisors. There has been a significant improvement in many of the schools that have been involved for the past three years.

Most of the classes at ATIORUM PRIMARY SCHOOL are taught “under the tree”.  The teachers do their best.  I observed a class of about 30 P1 children squashed on to a mat by a tree.  The children were fidgety and the only teaching aid was a rough piece of board propped up against the tree.  See picture in a previous post. When the wind blew, the children hid their faces from the sand, and the board fell to the ground!  GSA provided a grant of £964 to buy 3 blackboards and 45 metal-framed desks.

KUMBUSINGO PRIMARY SCHOOL received a grant of £550 for 20 desks for their P1 class.  The picture shows what it’s like to study with no desks

writing-on-the-floor-is-not-easy.