Category Archives: Projects

Firm Foundation, Bolgatanga

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This school has changed its name to PLATO ACADEMY, BOLGATANGA.

The school was founded in 2010 and is personally known to GSA supporter Sylvia Lynn-Meaden.  Sylvia and GSA combined to send £1400 to the school for the construction of a new classroom block.  Dorothy Abaah sent this report and pictures:   ” I write to inform you of the progress made in the building of the classroom block.  — The contractor advised that once the building is a store-building, it was technically unwise to put up the rooms piece by piece. I therefore used the money to buy materials which were used to cast 32 pillars. What is left is the casting of the lintel which materials are available. Our problems are the roofing of the building and the partitioning of the classrooms.  However, I was able to construct a decent room to accommodate class 6 pupils. The work is not progressing fast because the contractor is caught up with Government contracts far away from Bolgatanga.  Thank you. “                                                             img007 img008 img009               

Elikem Welfare Association

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£250 was sent for books and other learning materials.  EWA was founded as a voluntary youth and cultural group in Accra in 1998 for young people, some of whom had been displaced by the building of the Volta dam in the 1960s.  EWA now runs a successful farmers’ cooperative based in Bodumase, near Kumasi.

Ashanti Development

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This charity is working with isolated villages in the Ashanti region, providing support.  They asked Dave Banks, a retired teacher-trainer, to develop a method, replicable at low cost, to improve the quality of teaching in local schools.  Dave produced and piloted a written programme which is proving remarkably effective.  GSA supported the project with a grant of £750 towards training packs and other workshop expenses.

Abonse Basic School

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GSA has given grants to both Abonse Basic School and to Aseseeso Junior High School, two neighbouring schools in the Eastern Region, each of which has a partner in the UK.  The progress of both links is monitored by GSA trustee and committee member Letitia Boateng.  Letitia is also a member of the Abonse-Aseseeso Citizens’ Association, a diaspora group which gives active and valuable support to schools partnered with their communities of origin.

During a visit to the UK in the summer of 2013, Letitia was a guest of John O’Gaunt Community Technology College, Hungerford, Aseseeso Junior High’s partner, as well as Figheldean Primary School near Salisbury, partnered with Abonse Schools.  John O’Gaunt was celebrating its 50th anniversay, and part ofthe school’s history exhibition was a display of their link with Aseseeso.  Around the school, signs of the link’s influence could be seen from wall art and drums to recipes and a celebratory quilt made in the Textiles Department.    Such shared proof of the mutual benefits of linking gives pride and confidence to students and staff in both countries.

UPDATE       Letitia reports good progress made with the plastering.  The outstanding work is the need to rebuild the verandah at the back of the classroom block, which can house offices beneath it.  A grant of £500 was agreed in principle for this, but an estimate is needed before it can be released.  Patrick, the Abonse Head-teacher, came to the UK in October 2013 to visit the link school, Figheldean School.  He observed lessons and took teaching resources back to Abonse.  The challenge is to keep the link going now that British Council funding for it has ceased.

UPDATE        We received the estimates for completing the building of a veranda with storage area beneath it, and voted £1000 to this project.

UPDATE MARCH 2016   Abonse is in the hills of the Eastern region near Akropong, and as a rural village, has a basic school on two sites that consists of a Kindergarten, a Primary and a Junior High School. The photos are of students in the JHS library, developed with voluntary help over the past five years, and of a primary class exploring books in their classroom.  The third picture is of a drama presentation.

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UPDATE February 2017  The big Abonse school project is near completion.  There is still some plastering, painting and the installation of protective railings to do.  GSA has awarded the school a grant of £1500 to complete this work.  We wish them well.

UPDATE  May 2017  Here are some recent pictures of the work.  We can see what a huge difference that veranda will make to ease of circulation in the school.

Sabre Trust

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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

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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

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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

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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.

pupils in class Paga Com SHS Paga Community SHS teaching block

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

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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.”

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