Recounting a school visit: What you need to know and why it’s incredibly important

The school visit. In line with taking a more active interest in my learning(s), I visited a local government school in my community.

The goal of my visit was to understand how they have adapted to life in the Covid-19 era. Beloved, when I tell you I learnt a lot, I did. I learnt quite a bit about the administration of basic and junior high school from the perspective of an administrator, and I thought to share.

The unannounced school visit in Ayawaso West

On a bright and sunny day, I set out to give myself a much-needed break by listening to someone else’s experience. The topic of interest that day was education, so I visited a school. The school I visited? La-Bawaleshie Presby 1 Basic School in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency.

I grew up going past this school and even have a family member who is an alumna so it’s quite familiar to me. It proclaims to be one of the best public schools in the area – it’s possible. I believe the school tops in the Constituency with an 84% pass rate in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations.

Anyways, my school visit was unannounced. As such, I will say that I got a chance to see the setup, interactions and order of business as they would occur on a normal day.

So, here are a few things I picked up in conversation, and observed, from my school visit. A member of staff was kind enough to share his time with the unannounced intruder.

La-Bawaleshie Presby 1 Basic School

The school currently manages over 1000 students.

The average class size is about 50, about 10 more than the recommended class size.

With a full-time staff of about 28 and a total staff of around 35, the student to teacher ratio is about 29/30:1. That feels like a lot, especially for a school that is under-resourced.

Poorly equipped and under-resourced: cue dilemma

La-Bawaleshie Presby I is in need of quite a number of things, some of which I found rather surprising.

The new curriculum – new lesson plan, who dis?

First of all, the new curriculum introduced by GES is in effect, but its teachers have yet to receive the necessary training. Nor have they received the reference materials and textbooks the students need.

Essentially, teachers are expected to without the right tools. But teach they must. Sent into the battlefield with little more than a framework to guide battle strategy. They have access to the curriculum online but that’s about it. That is an issue that needs to be remedied.

PPEs – the new must-haves

Also, as I imagine would be the case with most public school across the nations, they are in need of PPEs.

According to a resource person, the government of Ghana was helpful in providing PPEs at the start, even ensuring each student got two nose masks. But that was then. Today, they need more masks, sanitisers and more durable thermometer guns because apparently, that’s a big issue.

I was privy to a thought I found rather intriguing. Loosely stated, ‘The idea of free education is great but requires so much more than accommodations have been made for. Without the right tools, resources and some financial buy-in, it’s hard to ensure the quality of education that should be afforded a growing child.’ Yay or nay?

Money is a necessity and the sky is blue

Financing is a major issue. Schools are not meant to collect PTA fees and yet they must cater for electricity and water bills, etc.

So, the question is, from whence cometh their help? Running a school requires money!

They have to pay for electricity, water, printouts, and other administrative requirements. Where then does the money come from? Well,

for quite a number of school, unofficial levies such as ‘collection/offertory’ is the source of the very little monies they can generate. That to me was rather appalling.

Monies are also generated from donations which we know are not only insufficient but heavily unreliable. This is not a sustainable financing model for an institution that is attempting to raise some of the future leaders of the nation. We need to rethink and innovate someway out of this. Any takers entrepreneurs?

Nevertheless, I asked more. What support, then, do schools get to deal with such financial strains? The Capitation Grant. Know it?

A lesson on Ghana’s capitation grant from my school visit

The capitation grants policy is one of the key strategies of the Ghanaian government to encourage the drive to achieve universal primary education. It’s a part of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy that made basic education free and compulsory for Ghanaian children.

When introduced in 2005, the capitation grants offered Gh¢ 3.0 per pupil.  In 2009, the grant was revised upward from the Gh¢3.0 to Gh¢4.50p (~$2.0) per every child enrolled per year. In 2018, revisions saw it rise to Gh¢ 10.0, according to news sources.

Its use? The grants help with the day-to-day running of public schools, specifically, procuring teaching and learning materials, paying levies (sports and cultural), and paying for in-service training and transportation costs involving official duties, etc.

As an ex-administrator shared, these grants are given not based on the needs of the school but the ‘might of the government at the time’. Or at least the might as is directed by the institutional body in charge of disseminating these grants.

To give credit whether it’s due, capitation grants have contributed to greater access to primary education in Ghana. Many sources point to increased indicators of access and participation in education following the implementation of the capitation grants policy. That said, it’s not wholesome in implementation.

It’s never one solution; it’s a multitude of solutions!

Now, inadequate classrooms, furniture, textbooks, teaching and learning materials, and a high pupil-teacher ratio are but a few of the challenges school deal with.

Similarly, issues exist around the transparent administration of the capitation grant, the incessant delays in the release of funds, and the insufficiency of the allocated funds when they do arrive. The process of securing the capitation grant has been deemed ‘administratively laborious, plagued by irregularities and delays, and overall a frustrating experience.’ Many have reported that the actual receipt of money is almost always about one year behind when the submission request is made.

As it stands, La-Bawaleshie I needs several exercise books and notebooks, as well as reference materials to support its 1000 plus student population. There is the need to properly equip school to perform their mandate and reduce annual delays in disbursement to enable management to effectively run the school(s) with the requisite resources.

Back to my casual visit to a basic school in Ghana…

As I mentioned previously, reference materials a major headache for administrators at the moment. I cannot imagine having to teach without the right materials – for students more than the teachers. What does that even mean?

The Library: let the book talk, or not

Feeding students curiosity and expanding their imagination and learning is an invaluable part of educating them. Yet, the visit to their library was a little underwhelming. You could fit their library into that of my basic school at least 10 times over. And, the shelves were not stocked with enough age-appropriate books. The books and general resources were just sparse in content and availability. Most of the books were children’s storybooks too – as in children. As a true believer in the power of books, that was a little tough to stomach – and I want to help fix that.

How does one start? I was thinking of possibly making time to catalogue existing books to do a proper needs assessment and then try to set up a fund to get people to sponsor the gaps? Is that a good idea? Does anyone have a better one? Any good examples elsewhere? Let me know…

The Computer lab: equipping students to be relevant

Pupils need digital literacy and digital skills for the increasingly digital world we live in. The computer lab had some 20 computers which 4-5 students share.

For a school the size they are, this is a tad underwhelming, but I do recognize that it’s a good start. It is perhaps one of the reasons why the school is top-notch among its peers. Not a lot of public schools have computer labs. Still, much more could be done. We need some tech help here.

Yikes! Anything encouraging from the school visit?

The students using the Veronica buckets.

I was impressed by how they had embraced the new status quo. There was no queue per se but at every point, one or two of them were washing and wiping off their hands. It was cute and quite a beautiful sight. I loved that they were taking that seriously.

Also, the joy.

Kids have a way of just being happy. They looked happy: people shooting up hands to questions, gleefully reading or pretending to read when I popped into the library, the vigorous and rambunctious games during their second break, etc. I missed being in school at that level.

What did I take away?

It’s tough out here. And there is a lot of need.

The issues are many and some are quite big but none, absolutely none, are impossible to tackle.

When I initially arrived at the school, the first thing that I noticed was their resourcefulness. The Veronica buckets at vantage points, whiteboard (chalkboard where? excuse you), neatly-clad students, the computer lab, the existence of a library…they are getting by. But we can do more for this foundational phase of our next leaders.

A school visit? This is different from Noellewonders.com content

Kind of but not really. I do hope you humoured my micro thinking today. I am more of a macro person usually.

I am reaching out to some people to understand some of these deficiencies and where the bottlenecks are at the macro level but today, in the interim, there is a need.

Below is a list I got from leadership to meet some immediate needs. If you want to help, and I hope you do, leave a comment below or reach out to me if you have my contact. My email is the blog name at Gmail (I don’t want spam by bots hence the slightly coded lingo).

The list from my school visit = write that cheque

Upper Primary to JHS 3:

1. Note 2/3 books – 815
2. Exercise books – 1840 pieces

Lower Primary:

1. Exercise books note 1=340,
2. D2 big size 40
3. A2 big size 40
4. G   big size 40.

KG 1 – Class 6

Reference materials needed for English, Maths, Science, History, Creative Art, Our World Our People, Computing, Religious and Moral Education. They preferred materials from Francis Benjamin, Appiah and Derrick (Excellent Series).

The End: Being an active participant in creating the outcomes I want

I have written in the past about how Africa might be the most beautiful place to visit. I still stand by it. Even more beautiful are its people – inside and out. I have always wondered what more investment in our human capital could do. Unleashing talent; expanding horizons; inspiring creativity – so much more…

We must make change the status quo around governance and political processes. We need to make the tough choices that put national interest over personal.

We need leadership that will act in, and with, the best interest of the population at heart. The type that will make efficient and effective calls with an emphasis on delivery. Simply because that is the right thing to do.

(Breathe)

My visit to a local school may not seem like a big issue but it is, to some extent. It is a microelement of a bigger problem.

One that demands a little more than politically-charged arguments. And, if that’s the root of whatever point or solution you are telling yourself, you may be missing the point.

Your charge, and mine

We owe it to our future leaders to find sustainable solutions to help them become the best versions of themselves. They deserve better and we know better. We can take the battle into policy arenas or try to influence decisions through our networks – and we must. But today, there is a need. I am excited to be able to help, selfishly and selflessly. And I hope you do choose to do the same.

Thank you for reading my post. If you found it insightful, enjoyable or annoying, share this post with others please.

That is my tale of visiting a local government school in Ghana. 😊

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Noelle Wonders

Marie-Noelle is the creator and curator of Noelle Wonders - a blog created to pose questions, exchange ideas, explore power asymmetries, and humanize topics around growth and development.

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