Partner Highlight: CPASGhana
“What do you need most to improve your schools?” Priscilla Jeffery, founder of CPASGhana, asked the teachers in Nsawam, Ghana several years ago during a community assessment.
“Practical science”, they all said. (Practicals = hands-on).
We are more than pleased to partner with CPASGhana (which is celebrating their 5th anniversary this year, yay) to make this a reality. Our complementary projects will ensure that we can cater to the whole girl, where their participation in The Exploratory will build their academic, team and personal skills, and CPAS will have meet many of their other needs and keep them in school.
The 5 basic schools that will be holding the Exploratory Clubs are the Sakyi Agyakwa Primary A, Sakyi Agyakwa Primary B, Sakyi Agyakwa JHS, Osaebo JHS and Tieku Basic School. All are in the Nsawam Adoagyire Municipality.
CPASGhana currently provides sponsorships to 75 girls at these schools who are bright, but at risk of dropping out. The sponsorships includes school fees, books, cost of after school programs. It also includes uniforms that are sewn by local seamstresses, in line with their mission to support the economic development of the local community.
Mustapha Sewor, program director of CPASGhana, now also a local council member, is committed to the success of these young women. He monitors each girl’s academic and personal progress through home visits, where he reviews report cards, and provides counselling and support to the families of scholarship recipients.
At a home visit during October 2015. Mustapha is second from the left.
Mustapha was instrumental in introducing us to the education director and municipal director, as well as school principals all of whom warmly welcomed The Exploratory’s training and programs.
Many teachers in the basic schools (primary and junior high) have not had enough preparation in science and maths and have little access to professional development once they start teaching. After our initial visit in January 2015, almost 40 teachers expressed interest in being trained. We were able to accommodate 15 in the August 2015 training.
I would be able to produce a lot of TLMs (teaching and learning materials) myself and use them in teaching”, said Ms. Cynthia Kumah, a teacher at Sakyi Agyakwa Primary A, said, after the training.
Nsawam teachers discuss ways to engage students actively during the August 2015 training
Some teachers, like William Gyampoh and Naomi Andoh at the Tieku school, and Richard Wilson, Cynthia Kumah, Adjei Yeboah at the Sakyi Agyakwa Primary A couldn’t wait and already started clubs last term, right after the training. Others were delayed by sporting events in the district. All are prepared to (re)start in February 2016.
I could help my female students erase their fear of science,” said Ms. Grace Ampoto Kwarkmah, a grade 5 teacher at Sakyi Agyakwa Primary B.
We know you can, and we are with you, Grace, and all the teachers, all the way! To contribute to this project, you can make a cash or in-kind donation (and thank a teacher during our Valentine’s Day drive).
CPAS Ghana founder Priscilla Jeffery and The Exploratory’s lead, Connie Chow, incubated this collaboration when they met at the UN during the 2012 review of the international treaty for the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (CEDAW).
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