Adventures in Ghana: 10 JHS workshops in a month

It’s been 4 weeks since Christmas and I have facilitated 6 out of 10 JHS (Junior High School) workshops and 2 SHS (Senior High school) workshops… more on the SHS ones later.

It’s been a busy few weeks. Good busy. The JHS workshops have been based around what I have named the ‘Science Resource Box’ which was assembled by my predecessor Anthony Lovett, full of excellent science equipment, much made locally. Anthony tasked me with the job of deciding when and how these boxes would be distributed. In fact this whole project really fits my role here in Ghana; ‘to provide ways and means for Ghanaian teachers to teach practical science using local materials and aid learning’- in a nutshell. Last term some of my time was spent writing a funding proposal (my first ever) to acquire funds in order to disseminate the boxes effectively and encourage them to be used in a sustainable way. It was 4000 GHC successful – Whoop Whoop! Thus grew the ‘Bolga Municipal Science Resource box Pilot Project’. Bolga Municipal is the district I live in and one of 10 districts which make up the region my role is to cover. I chose the Municipal District as Anthony had assembled 10 boxes and the Municipal District has 10 circuits (geographical areas within the Municipal). In order to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the project I decided that I would give one box to each circuit, establishing one JHS within each circuit as the ‘host’ school for the box which each JHS within the circuit could come to borrow/book out the equipment. Much like an equipment library if you like. Each circuit has what is called a ‘circuit supervisor’ responsible for the work that happens within basic education in that circuit. It was because of their role I enlisted the support of the Municipal Director and her circuit supervisors. I as one person am not able to monitor and evaluate the 50+ schools alone and as part of my role is capacity building using the circuit supervisors seemed like a perfect opportunity to build that capacity. The funding covered a workshop for each circuit where the science teachers for that circuit and the circuit supervisor were to attend. Sometimes the headmasters/mistresses of the host schools have also attended. The workshops will be followed up with 2 terms of ad hock support to individual teachers as required either on a team teaching, planning or simply just to be at the end of a phone answering queries basis. The project will culminate in a conference for all Bolga municipal Science teachers where their newly acquired practical skills will be shared by each other for each other; those that work don’t work and those that are brand new. Each circuit will rearrange the tightly followed curriculum which is currently taught in numerical topic order by all JHS to enable each school within one circuit to be teaching a different topic at any one time thus enabling more effective use of the limited equipment available and opening up its use to all schools who have access to it. It is this final curriculum change which has been supported by the regional and municipal directors and has been shared with the circuit supervisors which I hope will enable a more sustainable approach to using the equipment… long past my time in Ghana. Clearly, the more effectively these are used the more funding I can get my hands on and the more boxes I can get to schools an ideal scenario being that every JHS has its own ‘Science Resource Box’. A much more long term goal.

I spent the first week after Christmas adding to the local sourced and ‘manufactured’ materials in the box and had a lot of fun doing it. I had mounted needles, bottle top holders (for heating small amounts of liquid – micro chemistry) and rubber corks made. One teacher suggested that the opposite end of the bottle top holder could be used as a test tube holder – excellent idea and one now embedded into the workshop. A local electrician helped with making the holder and mounted needle and a local leather smith helped with the sourcing of the rubber bung fashioned from an old truck tyre (I was getting charged 6 GHC per bung, he 1.50GHC per bung so you can see why I got a Ghanaian to help source it!) He made the eventual hole through the rubber bung using tools he has for leather work (for 0.70GHC per bung) and really wanted to see what I would be using it for so I took the rocket launcher to his shopone day after a workshop to show him how the bungs had been used. He managed to get the rocket to go further than any of the teachers could and nearly knocked out a pedestrian in the process!

Emmanuel trying out the rocket

Some of Emmanuel work colleagues are disabled

Here are some other colleagues in the shop

The following weeks have been spent completing up to 3 workshops a week. The JHS workshop funding covered copies of a written 132 page spiral bound book for each school called ‘The science teachers handbook’ written by previous African VSO volunteers in the 1990’s and giving practical ways for teachers to teach science practically using local materials. Perfect… and as is the way in Ghana something I just stumbled across in the office 2 months after arriving. Typical. The workshop funding also covered copies of the written resources for the workshop for each participant, a mineral and snack, lunch, and access to a workshop geographically close to their own school. What more could you ask for I ask? T& T say the Ghanaians. I was offering no T&T. T & T (or travel and time allowance) in Ghana is expected in workshops. The reality is its simplest definition is corruption ‘out in the open’ and not something I was prepared to compromise on or be party to and seen to encourage in any way. If participants weren’t happy with what I was offering to them as a circuit, as a school and as an individual they were welcome to leave, however if learning and gaining knowledge and understanding through training was more important I urged them to stay. A risky strategy. So far it’s paid off. No one has walked out yet… that is walked out at the point of sharing this lack of T&T at the beginning of the workshop. More on that later.

As it says on the tin practical is the name of the game and the whole workshop models how practical work can be used in the classroom… There is no time for sleeping and Ghanaians aren’t used to doing anything other than sitting, sleeping, passively listening and taking phone calls whilst in workshops… but; ‘ If you snooze, you lose’ so you can imagine what happens to those who whip out a phone during the workshop!

Only thing left to say really is what an enjoyable but totally busy 4 weeks.... here are some highlights....

How organised am I! Very; 10 sets of resources set out and ready to go

My moto, packed and ready to head off to a workshop. The box is picked by Fred in the GES car. Too big for the moto!

Children clean their own schools buildings. This child has a wheelbarrow from 'Zoomlion' the company that collects rubbish in Ghana who set up a school club to discourage littering.

more cleaning...sweeping using a local brush

The box and it's equipment

example agenda.. never do they finish that late!

Not a typical classroom.
The only JHS so far to be able to provide
electricity and a bright room

Viewing the cells through the improvised magnifying glass

Setting up the onion cells

Using chromatography to discover who killed the head mistress...
was it Mrs Adongo, Mr Akolgo or Dr Atanga??

the lords prayer after cleaning to start the school day closely
followed by the Ghanaian National Anthem

How much energy is in food? Using the locally made mounted needle
and test tube holder to find out

Locally made test tube rack and improvised bunsen burner!

Some of the KG class which must have been totalling 50+ without a teacher
had the pleasure of Mme Ellie to fill in for a few minutes singing (?!)
the alphabet, baa baa black sheep and heads shoulders knees and toes...
I was desperate... luckily they knew them !!

Teachers and pupils learning how to model electricity without the use
of equipment . I have discovered Ghanaians love to role play.
The man in the front of the shot is the JHS headmaster who was
well up for getting involved!

Two children taking a break in the school grounds

Teachers, rockets and water... a lethal mix!

Prepare for launch; 10, 9, 8, 7....

Children taking a break from class to enjoy the rocket spectacular and watch the solemea chase goats
(I didn't want them to get hit by the flying rocket!!)