By Joyce Kantam Kolamong
Teach2Teach International, a UK-based charity organisation, in collaboration with the Centre for Literacy and Vocational Support, has initiated a programme to ensure effective teaching and learning in vulnerable communities in the Northern and Savannah regions.
Dubbed, ‘Community Volunteer Teacher and Radio Broadcast Program, the trained teachers are sent to the hinterland schools and communities to support schoolchildren in their education.
Sixteen pre-recorded educational programmes have also been put together to be aired for one and half years.
At the launch of the programme at GBC Radio Savannah in Tamale, the Founder of Teach2Teach International, Anita Lowenstein Dent, said the progrmme seeks to address educational gap in hard-to-reach communities.
Teach2Teach Radio, T2TR, aims to increase awareness of the value of education among parents, carers, the wider community, and educational professionals while equipping them with the knowledge and skills to support children’s learning in school and at home.
T2TR programmes feature panel discussions from Community Volunteer Teachers and recently qualified teachers from the Ghana Education Service who are residents in the communities they serve and cover a range of educational topics to promote enrolment, attendance, and inclusive educational practices within the school and community.
Entertaining and informative panel discussions will be used to engage parents and community members and highlight ways in which they can positively affect their children’s education.
Every episode is recorded in English and local language in Dagbani. Founder of Teach2Teach International, Anita Lowenstein Dent, said the 15 community volunteer teachers are SHS leavers recruited, trained, and deployed to vulnerable schools to teach for 7 months starting from January to July.
“The Community Volunteer Teacher programme seeks to find promising, talented, but unemployed young Ghanaians who will like to find their career as teachers and need their first step on the ladder to do that. We are able to train these people in eight days to be excellent Primary School teachers.”
Executive Director, Centre for Literacy and Vocational Support, Alhaji Mohammed Alhassan Karimu, said the radio programme seeks to touch base with the people in the community.
“We transmit through the radio for community members to listen to and phone in. This gives them the opportunity to tell their stories, some have schools that do not have teachers, some day not have furniture and even classroom infrastructure is a problem. We have schools like Waribogu Kukuo Ahmadiyya Primary School at Tolon District, Kpunduli Primary School at Nanton District, and Tutingyili Primary School at Savelugu Municipality in the Northern Region, and Sankpala Holy Rosary Primary School at Central Gonja District in the Savannah Region.”
The Northern Regional Director of GBC, Salifu Iddrisu, was grateful to the team for choosing the station for the training and subsequent radio programmes.
Teach2Teach Radio aims to use local radio stations to reach up to 7 million Dagbani-speaking Ghanaians.
