Katapor Junior High School

This morning, I visited a school for the first time with several of my colleagues--Katapor Junior High School on the outskirts of Accra.  The school is in an area that is still not very developed, and we rode a long way on bumpy dirt roads after leaving the paved roads of Accra.  On our way there, we passed many people walking to work or school.  The road was lined with tiny beauty salons and shops selling everything from clothing to groceries to windshield wipers. Here's a taste of what the road looks like:

Once we got to the school, it really felt like we were out in the country.  Here's the view from the front steps of the school:

We arrived at the school only to find out that the teachers were on strike.  Go, Teachers!!  But, the headmistress told us, many of the teachers were on their way into school anyway, not to teach, but to talk to us.  Most of the students had also come, to attend a regular Wednesday morning worship service.  The school is public, but most of the students are Christian, with only a few Muslims and traditionalists.   Even though the service is not compulsory, many of the students attend.  We were able to observe and participate in the service.

   

After the service, which included prayers, singing, drumming and a lesson from the headmistress, we sat in the headmistresses office and talked for over an hour with her and with several teachers.  We found out that there are 122 students at the school in the equivalent of our grades 7 through 9.  Despite the poverty in the area, and the lack of resources at the school, 100% of the students last year passed the exam that allows them to go on to senior high school.  The teachers were interested in the fact that, in the U.S. system, students earn credits to move on or to graduate, rather than having to pass an exam.

In the office where we met, several items on the wall gave a lot of insight into how the school runs.  Here's a chore chart:

So...no janitors.  Really, no school employees besides the headmistress and the teachers.  Students have responsibilities that go beyond academics.  The school has no running water, as the second column tells us.  These schedules are made by prefects (think Harry Potter), students elected by their class to certain positions.  There's a compound prefect, a sanitation prefect, a sports prefect and a school chaplain for each grade--all students.

Here's the weekly schedule:

Forms 1, 2, and 3 correspond to our 7th, 8th and 9th grades.  I.C.T stands for information and communication technology.  The school has 24 laptops donated by an NGO.  There are more than twice that many students in a class, so students have to share.  And they only got these laptops recently.  Before that, the ICT teacher was actually teaching computer skills without computers, and they got to travel several miles twice per term to a place where they could get their hands on computers.  BDT is basic design and technology.  This class includes home economics, technical skills like carpentry and wiring, and creative arts.  "Ghan. Lang" is Ghanaian language.  Here they teach both Ga and Ewe--we met Beatrice, the Ghanaian language teacher.  Yesterday, we heard in a presentation that students don't continue studying the traditional languages in senior high, but it's a requirement at the universities.  So often, students will get to the university and struggle with their literacy in their native Ghanaian language.

Here's their assignment timetable.  This means they have homework only in certain subjects each night.

We learned so much from talking to the teachers and the headmistress.  They are proud of their students' success and proud of the fact that, through an enrollment drive, they've increased the junior high numbers from 49 to 122 in three years.  Financial strain on families and truancy mean that some of their students are much older than the traditional junior high age--they have students up to 22 years old. While attending the school is free, students must buy notebooks, textbooks, and uniforms.  We were all interested in the uniforms, of course, since most U.S. public schools don't have them.  Not only do the schools here have uniforms, but they also require short haircuts.  One teacher is in charge of enforcing the dress and hair code.  This picture shows how the girls dress and wear their hair.

After talking to the teachers for awhile, we took a tour of the school.  The junior high consists of two long single-story buildings like the one at the right, with rooms off the long porch, slatted openings for windows and doors at both the front and the back.

This is the library at the school.  Many students stayed at school after the worship service, even though there were no classes so that they could read and spend time with friends.

These are the bathroom facilities behind the school.  The headmistress told me that many girls simply don't come to school when they have their periods because there is so little privacy.  They are working with an NGO to build a more private bathroom.

I have lots more to say about this visit, but I'm going to post this now before I go to my next meeting.