Ejura Primary School

Introduction

Ejura primary school is a rural school in the heart of the Ashanti Region. Because of its elevated location, Ejura is a welcome reprieve to the humidity and heat of Accra.

Currently there are 150+ kids from kindergarten to Junior Secondary School level. The children range from about 3 years to 19 years old (they started school late) so it common to have children of various ages in the same class.

The school has just completed some construction; now there are many classrooms, toilets for the children, and a kitchen for cooking lunch.

Project Manager

The project is currently under the supervision of Dada Shiveshvarananda, an Indian monk and trainer for African yoga teachers. Dada has years of experience opening and running schools in his own country as well as abroad. He is respected in the community for his wisdom and perseverance.

Jenna Smith is the volunteer coordinator for the project. She’ll communicate with you as you book and plan your journey. She lives in Canada now.

Who do we need?

• Enthusiastic, self-motivated, and patient people who have completed high school and love kids.

• Anyone who is broadminded and ready to live a simple lifestyle in simple surroundings.

• Couples as well as small groups are welcome, likewise either gender.

• Qualified teachers are especially encouraged!!

• The academic year starts in September and semesters are as follows:
  
  Term 1: Mid September to mid December
  Term 2: Early January to early April
  Term 3: Early May to early August
  
  We would like to have volunteers come for at least one semester, from start to finish, to allow for the best quality learning. If volunteers want to travel, they should plan time to do so either before the semester starts or after the semester finishes.

We strive to have a head volunteer who is an experienced/qualified teacher at the project at all times. S/he helps to organize volunteer efforts and give guidance about teaching. S/he also acts as an in-the-field liaison between the current volunteers and Jenna. Please mention before you go if you think you’d like to take this on.

Volunteers are encouraged to start their own initiatives and be involved in sustaining the project once they have finished volunteering. We welcome your participation and ideas!

Environment

Ejura is located about 2 hours north of Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, and has a population of around 30,000. It is a rural faming town known for its Monday market days and as Ghana’s mango capital!

There are no proper roads in the town, except for the main road that passes from Kumasi and up further north. Dirt tracks link houses splotched randomly about the landscape. Goats and guinea fowl roam freely.

Being in the highlands, Ejura gets much cooler during the nights and is not as humid as many other areas in Ghana. You may even need a blanket or long-sleeved shirt from time to time!

Educational Realities in the Village

Your first day at the school will open your eyes to the shortfalls of education in rural Ghana. There is little equipment besides desks and chairs. From an early age children are taught to be obedient and never to question people older than them. Teachers tend to use beating as a common method of punishment (despite requests not to) because it was the way they were taught – a sad consequence of colonialism.

Memorizing and chanting by rote are the main teaching methods. Not taught to think for themselves, most students are shy in school because they don’t want to give the wrong answer. Learning is hard work, especially here. Everyone can learn from examples of great classroom management, discipline, and teaching methods.

Accomodation

Volunteers stay at “Namaskar House,” which is just a short walk from the school. Dada and Eric (he cooks) live there as well as four boys (12-18 years old) who have been taken in. There are cats too!

Depending on the number of volunteers at the time, you may get your own room or share with another volunteer.

Rooms are clean and simple. The house has running water as well as electricity, but it goes out sometimes. Life by the sun, and sometimes the lantern, is the norm in Ejura.

Water is clean and comes from an underground spring. For this reason, Ejura is one of the few places in Ghana where you don't need to drink mineral water. Still, many volunteers choose to drink sachets of Pure Water, purchased close by.

American volunteer, Alison, in the
volunteer's accommodation

Your Job

You'll teach at the school, in coordination with the local teachers. While sometimes local teachers teach with the volunteers, most often volunteers plan, teach, assess, and evaluate on their own with very little guidance. A word of warning: the school system is absolutely NOTHING like education in most of Western Europe or North America. Organization is low, local teachers can be unaccountable, and assessment does not happen often.

Whether you have just completed high school or are midway through a university degree and want time out, your education will have been much more rigorous than that of the local teachers. Most have not gone to teachers’ training college. This is a reality in rural West Africa.

You are encouraged to give your input and try (or share) new teaching techniques. The children take some time to get used to each volunteer’s unique style, but the results you will see are wonderful!

The school hours are between 8:00 am and 2:30 pm. From 7:30 - 8:00 am children arrive, then do chores around the school and play. At 8:00 am singing of the anthem and other compulsory government curriculum activities start, followed by classes.

The children are taught English, Math, Science, Environmental Studies, and Religious & Moral Education (Christianity, Islam, and Traditional). If you would like to teach other subjects like Art, Dance, Gym, Music, etc. you are welcome to! You will be in much demand and whatever you put your mind to will be an inspiration for the children and the teachers.

Class sizes vary incredibly. The number of kids in each class decreases as the level increases. Kindergarten can have up to 60 children while class six sometimes has only 7 students. The abilities of children within each class also vary considerably: even in a grade 6 class there could be children who hardly know any English or their alphabet sounds, alongside those who can converse or write a story in English with little help. Be prepared to adapt and teach material to many levels!

Some of the KGs doing an Art/Math activity

Volunteers are also expected to meet once a week as a group to discuss issues and ideas with Dada Shivesh. In addition, you’ll attend weekly meetings after school with local teachers and the principal.

Lastly, volunteers are responsible for running the library, which happens in a room at Namaskar house. 2-3 times a week students come by after school to exchange books.

On Your Own Time
In the evening, many children visit the house to play. If volunteers are interested in sports (especially football or table tennis) they can start games at/near the house. You can help the boys and neighborhood children with their reading and homework, teach them games, dance - whatever! Also, you can or check out the library close by.

On weekends and holidays, it is great to travel outside of Ejura. You can plan day trips around the Ashanti Region as well as longer trips around Ghana and beyond!

What you can do before you come:

Check out the ideas in the Treasure Hunt and think of as many creative things that you can.

Another possibility that you could try to organise is that of finding a school in your home country to "adopt" an African school such as Ejura and as well as class pen friends and letters being exchanged, they could also fundraise for example for playground equipment in the school, which currently has nothing but an empty dusty playground.

If you don’t have much experience teaching and if you have some free time, it would benefit you to get some experience planning lessons/units, teaching, and working with kids.

Accomodation and Food Costs: