While in Ghana I will be examining the effectiveness of the recent reforms in the Ghanaian education system in increasing the quality of education provided and its accessibility to children in all regions of Ghana. One topic my paper will examine is the allocation of funding to school districts in different regions in order to determine whether students in underdeveloped and rural regions of the country have the opportunity to receive the same quality of education as students in urban parts of the country. School districts receive funding according to the number of students enrolled in it. Some districts have bxeen classified as “deprived districts,” based on the percentage of qualified primary teachers in the district, the student to teacher ratio, the gross enrollment ratio, and the percentage of girls in the district. Therefore, the smaller school districts with the least amount of students and the largest percent of under qualified teachers are the neediest, but receive the least amount of funding.
In the few days I have been here I have begun to understand the incredible obstacles that children and their families face as they attempt to obtain the best education possible. Truly understanding the lack of resources available in the many small schools in villages all over Ghana is something that can only be accomplished by seeing these schools and talking to the children that attend them. Everyone I have spoken to is excited to have us here and have asked us to do everything we can to help their country. I think that since the other fellows and I have been in Ghana we have felt a much stronger sense of responsibility towards the different communities we are trying to help and we are all excited and anxious to begin our work. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to help a community in great need that has welcomed us with open arms since we arrived. We are all going to do everything we can to understand the issues they face and help them in the time we are here.
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