Another new week and Elisabeth and I had planned to visit Galillea, the only Omega school in the area that we had not yet seen, and the school that Ken’s son Nevis goes to nursery. Picked up in the morning by Ken and Nevis, it was clear Nevis was not awake enough to entertain some scary Obruni girls, and after shying away at the sight of us he managed to fall asleep on the bumpy ride to school.
Next to Lake Weija, the small somewhat secluded school is nicely painted and neatly laid out. With a makeshift stage for morning prayer and singing, a large area of land to march in, along with the standard courtyard playground within, on first observations I had high hopes for this Omega school. Showed around each class by Mary the school manager, the children were friendly and greeted us warmly, with some of the teachers remembering us from the phonics training session with Miss Sofia.
As another Omega school with a computer lab I was keen to start the day by observing an ICT lesson. As usual, peer learning was key, as there were around 3 children to each computer, each taking it in turn to complete the task assigned to them (Sugata Mitra would have been proud of the independent learning through discovery and trial and error).
After ICT we joined some of the younger classes, who had embraced the Jolly Phonics scheme. The KG2 teacher was clearly listening at Sophie’s training as she had followed the exact structure of the Jolly Phonics teaching book, and had already managed to teach her class the letters in the first book. Elisabeth and I were inspired by this progress and decided to incorporate some of the activities we had seen Sophie do with her class at 94. Human words were tackled and conquered by the majority of the class, and a game of noughts and crosses even went surprisingly well. The Nursery 2 Class had also been learning phonics post teacher training, but the teacher had done it alphabetically rather than following the jolly phonics system. As the children were younger our attempts at a short teaching lesson were not quite as successful, but it was still excellent that the teacher was willing to try and incorporate the phonics system into her daily routine, and it clearly shows that the majority of teachers would be happy and willing to learn new techniques to enhance the education of the students.
With no teacher in the p5 class during the ICT crossover Elisabeth and I stepped in to help guide an English lesson using the textbooks provided (due to the large classes and the small ICT room, they must take it in turns to use the computers and have a teacher.) We must have done a good job, as the kids were keen for us to continue on into the next lesson, unfortunately for them they were scheduled to have a rather taxing maths test, so Elisabeth and I slipped out to find Mary and sort out some lunch. After an almost endless wait we were served jollof rice, what we guessed was goat and a boiled egg. However we were slightly put off our food by the disturbing display of punishment being administered by the Primary 2 teacher. This was the first time we had witnessed actual beatings and it was horrifying. The teacher was demanding the children position their hands out in front of them with their palms facing up while she caned them. Elisabeth and I were astonished by the teachers harsh attitude to the children, and although many teachers we had seen were strict with the kids, this was the first time we’d witnessed any physical punishments, I truly hoped it was the last. And I fully believe this is not the custom held throughout the Omega chain and that this was just a slight glitch in what has been a fine display of educating.
The topic of conversation that evening turned to the depiction of Africa on TV, for instance on Comic Relief, compared to real life Africans. Having been in Africa for 3 weeks now I believe the images on TV do not accurately display how the average African or at least Ghanaian really is. Ghanaians are proud happy people, they work hard to earn their keep. The only beggars I have seen have been physically handicapped, otherwise I would say begging is almost frowned upon, that Ghanaians are better than that. Of course there are those in a severe state of poverty and organisations like Comic Relief are more than welcome to assist. But I feel there has been a smokescreen created by the media, in reality not all Africans are as incapable and helpless as most people might have believed from what has been shown countless times on TV.
Sophie’s day was just as adventurous as mine and Elisabeth’s as she had gone on an eventful trip to the post office with Gad (one of my Mini Project kids) as her tour guide. Gad didn’t have a cedi to go to school that day, and ended up bumping into Sophie in the street. The carefree kid took Sophie all round Kasoa to find a stamp and then a post box, for all his trouble Sophie let him lick his first stamp and post his first letter. It’s amazing to think that something as simple as posting a letter could be such a momentous occasion for a child in Africa.
Sophie’s day was just as adventurous as mine and Elisabeth’s as she had gone on an eventful trip to the post office with Gad (one of my Mini Project kids) as her tour guide. Gad didn’t have a cedi to go to school that day, and ended up bumping into Sophie in the street. The carefree kid took Sophie all round Kasoa to find a stamp and then a post box, for all his trouble Sophie let him lick his first stamp and post his first letter. It’s amazing to think that something as simple as posting a letter could be such a momentous occasion for a child in Africa.
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