The origin of my commitment to ensuring quality education for Ghana’s most vulnerable children and young people stems from my personal experience growing up.
I grew up in Adansi Atobiase, a rural community in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. I used to walk for over 5 km to the farm early in the morning to bring in foodstuffs before I could go to school every day.
I was able to go to school despite the challenges; poverty, inadequate teaching, insufficient learning resources and educational materials like books, library and laboratory for practical work, and no career guidance or mentorship.
In senior high school, I was lucky to secure a scholarship in the second year, but most of my classmates in Junior High School couldn’t continue to high school because of the payment of huge school fees at that time. Unfortunately, so many young people have not been able to accomplish their dreams because of poverty.
All children have potential, even those living in rural areas
My experiences have made me understand why there is the need to help bridge the educational gap for children in rural communities, who don’t have as much access to quality education opportunities as their counterparts in urban centers.
I didn’t need to look very far for inspiration: I wanted to learn more because my father told me that going to school was not only the best bet, but the only resort to move out of poverty.
Taking a look at my background and how I was able to overcome the hurdles I met provided inspiration: that every rural child can become great if supported. Having experienced a poor educational system, I have grown up to realize that education is one thing that cannot be taken away once gained or acquired. That is why young people in rural communities need to be empowered through education.
From teacher to advocate
After finishing my undergraduate studies in Education, I took a teaching position with Ghana Education Service in September 2016 in Volo Community Day Senior High School. Volo is a rural low-income fishing community in the countryside. The community faces many challenges, ranging from poverty, a high rate of teenage pregnancies, poor road networks and inadequate infrastructure.
As the only science teacher in a school of over 350 students at that time, I combined teaching with career guidance and leadership development for the students. Most of the girls have experienced teenage pregnancy so there was a particular need to encourage them.
With the support of other teachers, we have been able to provide them with frequent counseling on sexual and reproductive health, inviting health officers at Volo Health Center to speak to the students and engaging parents through termly parent-teacher association (PTA) meetings.
For more than a year now, and I’m proud to report that no incident of teen pregnancy has been recorded.
In June 2017, I secured a partnership with Google and we were able to train over 400 children at the Volo Child Development Center: children from 9 to 18 coming from 5 rural communities in the area received free training on basic IT skills needed for 21st century jobs, coding and digital literacy.
Taking my advocacy to the global level
Thank to my activities as an education advocate and writer, my numerous campaigns on improving equitable access to quality education in rural communities have featured on both national and international platforms such as the Commonwealth Blog, TheirWorld Blog in the UK, and in Ghana's best-selling newspapers.
As a volunteer Commonwealth correspondent, I report on education issues that are not captured by the mainstream media in Ghana.
I have also used my expertise in education to offer suggestions to policymakers in Ghana, for example on the free senior high school policy.
Currently, I run the Sustainable Classroom Initiative, which equips teachers in rural communities to build cost effective, innovative teaching and learning materials, decorate their classrooms with inspirational messages and incorporate education for sustainable development in their lessons.
The initiative is run by a group of passionate professional teachers who believe in using the resource support model to improve student’s academic performance in underserved schools. So far, our work has reached 10 schools with a total of over 1,500 students.
I am the representative for 2018 Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition -the oldest schools essay competition in the world. My job is to promote the essays in schools especially those in rural communities in Ghana through organizing workshops for teachers and also encouraging students to share their views on the global level through writing.
My message to Commonwealth leaders
During the Commonwealth Youth Forum, which brings together over 500 young people from across the 53 Commonwealth countries, my message as a teacher, young leader and CHOGM correspondent remains the same - I will engage young people to remind the heads of governments coming for the meeting this week to increase investment in basic education.
Building on the commitments, and political and financing commitments made at the GPE Financing Conference in Dakar to invest in education quality (gender equality, teacher development, early childhood education, curriculum development, girls’ education and 21st century skills), we can stem the flow of precarious and dangerous migration, increase global security, prepare young people for the jobs of the future, and build national and regional economies.
I believe that when children, including the marginalized ones from low-income countries, are provided with inclusive quality education, the world will become a better place for all.