New Age Prep School, Ghana

Is located in the village of Sega, the ‘county’ (equivalent) is Ada in the Greater Accra Region. There are approximately 220 pupils enrolled at the school but in reality up to 250 attend. Some parents will only send their children to the school if they are going away and use them as a crèche service! There is a nursery which has about 50 pupils and then classes 1-6 vary in size from 14-40.

The pupils are graded according to ability not age. This is because the school has only been open about 4 years and prior to that there was no education in the village. The eldest pupil in the Primary School is 21 and she is in grade 3.

All teaching is conducted in English but the local language is a dialect of dangme called Ada.

Throughout Ghana there are many different languages spoken. The Headteacher, Godwin Agudey, can speak 10 of these. English is very important, therefore, if the children ever want to move away when they are older. The parents of the pupils are nearly all uneducated farmers. Some of the fathers might be fishermen and some of the women might sell things – usually fruit or material. There is very little money in the village so some of the mothers have moved to the city and only return home to see their families every few months.

Before the school was set up the best future for a boy would to be an apprentice cattle herdsman. After working for 3 years for a tiny wage he would be rewarded with a calf. This would be held with great value and it has been an uphill struggle to stop parents sending their sons to be herdsmen.

All of the children in the school have to help at home. Many of them go out to farm before and after school. All of them fetch water on a daily basis. They have to walk to the lagoon and carry back containers on their heads. Even the smallest children are required to do so.

The school building at the moment is too small. The class 5 have to sit outside under the shade of a tree. The structure of the building is far from ideal. It is breeze blocks to knee height, then the wooden frame supports large sheets of plywood. There is a foot gap to ventilation between the top of the plywood and the sloping corrugated iron roof. There are no windows and the door is only an opening. The means when it rains it is very noisy from the roof and the water comes in too.

The parents are required to pay school fees. A term would cost 40 cedis which works out at about £2.40.