America and Ghana: Partners for education
It is back to school time for many in Ghana and the United States (US)! As a former teacher, I have identified many ways the US and Ghana can work together to improve education for Ghanaians at all levels, from primary education through higher learning.
The US, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is supporting Ghana’s Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to improve learning achievement for children attending public primary schools, with a focus on reading (in English and the 11 official national languages of instruction), math instruction, school management and accountability.
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USAID Learning, a six-year $76 million programme, is the flagship project of the US government’s support to children attending basic school in Ghana.
During the 2017-2019 academic years, more than 7,200 schools in 100 districts implemented this programme throughout all 16 regions of Ghana.
More than 700,000 KG2 and Primary 1 and 2 students benefited from the project and 38,000 teachers received high-quality instructional materials and training in innovative reading instruction methodology.
The results? The effort significantly improved reading test scores in Ghanaian languages and English for children in project schools, with the top 25 per cent of students in the USAID Learning-supported schools reading 20 more words per minute than students in comparison schools.
Secondary level
At the secondary education level, the U.S. Embassy offers exchange programmes for both teachers and students who have demonstrated excellent academic and leadership
skills.
The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programmes offers a full academic year in an American public high school and a host family homestay.
Since 2006, more than 300 Ghanaian Senior High School (SHS) students from every region have participated in the YES programme.
I love meeting Ghanaian YES participants who are like “young ambassadors” in that they share their culture with American host families, schools and communities – and when they come back, they share their experiences in America with their Ghanaian friends.
For teachers at the secondary level, both the Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) and the International Leaders in Education Programme (ILEP) programmes provide unique opportunities to develop expertise in their subject areas, enhancing teaching skills and increasing knowledge about the US.
Through various U.S. Fulbright programmes, students and faculty from both American and Ghanaian higher learning institutions have established and deepened relationships among academic institutions.
For example, a recent Fulbright Scholar in the Industrial Arts Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) created a partnership in which two ceramics students from the University of Arkansas attended KNUST, and a Ghanaian student attended the University of Arkansas’ Master of Fine Arts programme.
The U.S. Embassy conservatively estimates that more than 100 of these types of partnerships exist among American and Ghanaian universities, largely due to the personal connections, reflecting our close bilateral and people-to-people ties.
For Ghanaian students who have successfully completed SHS or already have a degree, they are encouraged to consider an undergraduate or graduate degree programme in the U.S. American colleges and universities take pride in providing intellectually stimulating and safe environments for all their students, and I assure you that universities and colleges in the US are eager to welcome Ghanaian students.
The US Embassy in Ghana is proud that more than 3,200 Ghanaian students studied at 630 US colleges and universities in the 2018-19 academic year, making Ghana the third-highest sender of students from sub-Saharan Africa to the country, after Kenya and Nigeria.
We would be delighted to see those numbers increase! If you are interested in studying in the US, I invite you join us for the EducationUSA College Fair on Friday, September 27, 2019 at Presec Legon from 11:00am - 4:00pm, where you can meet with representatives from 50 U.S. colleges and universities.
In the 2018-2019 application year, our EducationUSA advisors helped thousands of Ghanaian students apply to universities and colleges in the United States, securing admissions across the more than 4,700 accredited institutions of higher learning and facilitating $7 million in financial aid and scholarships.
If you cannot attend the fair, you can reach our EducationUSA advisors for more information via: gh.usembassy.gov/education-culture/.
We look forward to continuing our partnership for education with Ghana. A robust economy in Ghana depends on much more than its natural wealth and resources.
We know that basic skills such as reading, writing and math are pre-conditions to equitable economic growth, improving critical health indicators, gender equality, and socio-economic progress. Indeed, a prosperous and stable Ghana is good for both Ghana and the US - and it all starts with education.
The writer is the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana