Education – Free School Meals
Improving Education in Sekyere Central
Children in Ashanti are given up to nine years education, but we reckon most come nowhere near acceptable levels of reading and understanding. In 2011, we recruited teacher-trainer Dave Banks to look for inexpensive and straightforward ways of improving this situation.
After familiarising himself with local schools, Dave organised a programme of participatory activities (details available). The big change was that children were participated more in lessons, which were delivered at pace with engagement and questioning. Dave retired in 2022. By then, his work had involved 1,200 teachers and 25,000 children.
While we recognise that exam results are an imperfect way of measuring success, they do give some idea of how far we have come. Below are our District’s results in Ghana’s national benchmark leavers’ exam.
| % |
2011 (Dave recruited) | 32 |
2021 | 81.6 |
2022 (Dave retires) | 85.2 |
2023 (probably near best in Ghana) | 93.7 |
2024 | 85.9 |
Our District Education Department is continuing the project, which is now run by their educational supervisors without European input. This year, we hope they will start training their counterparts in a neighbouring District to achieve the same results.
Scholarships
Volunteer Brian Kim believes that ‘continued education through senior secondary school and eventually through university, is the key that will eventually lift large parts of the community out of poverty’. In 2021, he launched a scheme to support one boy and one girl from every senior high school in the District to continue their studies for three years. This meant that in 2025 he funded 48 students. He specified that the students had to come from among the poorest families, as well as being talented and hardworking.
By 2024, all the students were eligible for university but lacked the funds, so Brian launched an appeal on their behalf. The result: five students are being sponsored through university. But many more are waiting.
A university scholarship costs just £277 per year, and any contribution can help keep a child in school.
Justice Nkwanta, who comes from Ashanti Development’s home village of Gyetiase, was one of the earlier students we sponsored. He has now completed his university course of politics and economics and is thinking of changing to law. Students like Justice make us realise what a lot many people can do if they’re only given half a chance.
School Buildings
School buildings are sometimes unsuitable or unsafe, and occasionally we build replacements. This little school was built by the village of Esereso for its youngest children. It blew down in a storm, so we rebuilt it. This time we made it big enough to include all the children in the bush who’d never gone to school in the first place.
In other cases we built kindergartens, where children can be looked after safely while their parents are at work.
We also build computer centres and accommodation for teachers. Without somewhere to live, teachers are reluctant to move to remote villages.
Alongside improvements in teaching and learning, we also support children to stay in school and engage with education through practical initiatives, including free school meals in some schools and tree planting projects.
Help us open the door to education
The progress in Sekyere Central shows what is possible. But many more children are still waiting for the chance to learn and succeed.
With your support, we can reach more schools, support more students, and expand this work to other districts.
Every donation, big or small, helps unlock potential.
Ashanti Development