School

There is a school near our new house and their assemblies are an energetic affair, with lots of singing and clapping. For those interested in Ghana's education system, education is highly valued here as a means to succeed. There is a big divide between the north and south both in quality of teaching and poverty being a huge barrier to children remaining in education. There is a compulsory age for staying in school but no way or effort made to enforce it. I’m still learning about the system but two things really struck me – firstly that 91% of children age 11 cannot read with understanding, and that 95% of the total national education budget is spent on teachers’ salaries, leaving 5% for everything else. That means district education offices (of which there are about 175) have a menial annual budget equivalent to about £1000 a year The main reason cited by inspectors for not visiting schools is that they can’t afford the fuel so steps are being taken to build the capacity of heads to self-evaluate.

The teacher training programmes are interesting here too. A degree is only needed to become a secondary high school teacher, but not for primary. There is a national volunteer service, through which people are encouraged to dedicate 1-2 years to teaching before beginning their career. But it seems like there is a lot of transition from the teaching profession as people use it as a stepping stone to other highly skilled jobs. Progression is only through University, with no clear vocational route. There also isn’t any formal training for head teachers. Progression is based on the number of years of experience you have, and more surprisingly there are no incentives to progress as heads are paid exactly the same as teachers!

Went into work to meet my colleagues this week. They seem nice and want me to start full time on Monday, which is good as so much has needed doing to the house.