Teach for Rural Ghana
The Teach for Rural Ghana program is loosely modeled on training programs in the United States that help prospective teachers to become licensed educators in return for teaching in high-need schools. As with other rural areas around the world, there is a severe shortage of teachers in Yonso and its surrounding communities. The Yonso Project will financially sponsor individuals in Ghana who wish to attend a teaching college; in return, the participants agree to teach for three years in our communities and to provide part-time assistance with YP programs when needed.
A degree program at a Ghanaian teaching college takes a student three years to complete, after which the government typically forgives a portion of his or her loans. The Yonso Project will cover the amount of the participant's tuition that the government will not pay -- around $250 for the first year of college and $200 for each following year. Also, because teachers' salaries in rural parts of Ghana are lower than in urban areas (again, much like the US), the YP will provide an annual $100 stipend to our participants once they begin their three-year teaching commitment. Together with the construction of the Teacher's Quarters, this program will attract talented young professionals to schools in our communities. By attracting students to the field of teaching, the program will also provide a career path for graduating high school students in Yonso and neighboring towns. It will give Yonso's brightest students an incentive to return home and an opportunity to contribute.
YP member Tony Caccavo conceived of Teach for Rural Ghana in the spring of 2008. After meeting that summer with the local director of education and the administrators of several Ghanaian teaching colleges, Tony implemented the program in the fall of 2008. That semester, four teaching students began seeking their degrees with help from the Yonso Project: Appiah Owusuwaa Rita, Brefo Benjamin, Agyemang Seth, and Ataa Kwartemaa. Two more students will join them in the fall of 2009. Each participant has signed a contract with the YP committing to a three-year post-graduation residency in the schools in Yonso or a nearby town. We are proud to be assisting our participants with their college education, and we eagerly await their entrance into the local schools as qualified teachers!