Just wanted to shine some light on schooling. So as I said before in Ghanaian schools
they have four different programs you can participate in. There’s Science, Visual Arts, Business,
and General Arts. Each program has
a selection of electives that you can pick from. I am in the General Arts program. The electives I take are Geography, History, Government,
Economics along with the core classes of English, Math, Science, Social Studies,
ICT (Intergraded Computer Technology), and PE.
In each class there is a head class prefect and assistant
class prefect. They are in charge
of collecting homework, passing out papers, informing students of what’s
happening in the school, keeping the class in order, calling the teacher to
come to class, taking attendance etc.
This is a different dynamic of Ghanaian schools that American schools
don’t have: Delegating a select few to have power over the whole class without
resentment. I think it’s pretty
cool. There are prefects for
everything: house prefect, disciplinary prefect, entertainment prefect, sports
prefect, cleaning prefect etc…
Forms: In Ghana
there are three forms: Form 1, Form 2, and Form 3. It’s basically like Freshman, Junior, Senior. Seniority is big in Ghana so Form 3’s
have the power to do a lot in terms of punishing Form 2’s and 1’s. You can differentiate what form people
are in based on the belt that the person is wearing with their uniform. There are form specific belts. The form 2’s and 3’s start their first
term in September and continue throughout the school year. On the other hand the form 1’s
admission starts in November and December due to the fact that their results
(result’s from the test the took in Middle school or junior high school, as it
is called here) do not come back until those times. Therefore all form 1’s don’t appear on campus until the
second semester. Each form is
divided into blocks (buildings) based on what program you’re in. For example there would be separate
General Arts form 2 block and the General Arts form 3 block. And in each block the classrooms are
divided based on what electives you take.
So in my General Arts form 2 block I am in Classroom C because of my
electives. Classroom B takes
Christian Religious Studies instead of Geography so they are differentiated. Each Classroom has a Form master who is
the teacher or administrator in charge of performing form activities and they
are the support system for those students.
Houses: There
are Five Houses: House 1, House 2, House 3, House 4, and House 5. Every student is placed in a
house. I am in House 3 (The
Knights) and we honestly are the best house. Each House has a plot, which is a section on the school
campus that they are responsible for tending too. Students may be required to weed (which is done by cutting
the grass with a machete), sweep, clean, scrub etc. The workload is given out by seniority. Form 3’s will oversee the Form 2’s and
when the Form 1’s come the Form 2’s will oversee the Form 1’s. Another exciting part of houses is that
the school hosts interhouse competitions.
This is when the houses compete against each other in sports and it is a
huge event. House three won that
too!!! During interhouse
competitions there are “scouts” who pick the best players from the whole school
to compete in interschool competitions, which is when all the different schools
in the Accra region compete against each other. There are also house meetings and House head mistresses and
masters.
Typical Mon-Fri schedule:
Monday- arrive at school between 5-8. Go to work on your plot if needed. Drop your bag off in your
classroom. Go to Assembly. History. Government. Social Studies.
Geography. Close from school.
Tuesday- arrive at school between 5-8. Go to work on your plot if needed. Go to classroom and meet with Form
Master/Class prefect and discuss and problems. English. Government. Math. Science. Close from school.
Wednesday- arrive at school between 5-8. Go to work on your plot if needed. Drop your bag off in your
classroom. Go to Assembly Hall for
Worship. Economics. ICT. Geography. History. Close from school
Thursday- arrive at school between 5-8. Go to work on your plot if needed. Go
to classroom and meet with Form Master/Class prefect and discuss and problems.
History. Science. English. Geography.
Close from school.
Friday- arrive at school between 5-8. Go to work on your plot if needed. Drop your bag off in your
classroom. Go to Assembly. Government. PE. Economics. Math. Close from school.
Arriving to school:
Yes there are kids that show up to school at 5am. That is one thing I might never
understand because that is entirely to early when classes don’t start until
8am. And then there are the
student’s that stroll in at 9am, 10am, 11am or better yet they don’t go to
school they just come for sport’s training after school. I on the other hand show up at a
“normal” time of 7:30am.
Assembly: On Monday’s and Friday’s we have assembly. On Monday’s you line up outside on the
grass by your class. On Friday’s
you line up by your house.
Everyone from Form 1 to Form 3 is there so it’s a ton of people and
you’re all out in the hot sun.
During Assembly the school song is sung, the national anthem is sung,
the Lord’s prayer, the pledge of allegiance is said, and a student preacher delivers
a sermon. After that the
administrators say what’s happening in the week and can announce things. Businesses frequently come it and try
to get kids to register for things such as Banks wanting students to open up
accounts. After we are dismissed from
assembly we all go back to our respective blocks and classrooms.
I entitled this entry Patriotism because during assemblies I
feel ‘some type of way’ when the national anthem and pledge of allegiance
happens. Like it’s funny because
I’m like well I can’t pledge allegiance to Ghana when I’m an American, but then
everyone’s is looking to see if I’m going to say it, but I’m not. Usually me and the other exchange
student at my school look at each other and chuckle and we just don’t say
it. I mean it’s not really like we
could because we don’t know the pledge and anthem, but yeah I just find that
funny. Go America!! But I still love Ghana!
Worship: Another really big deference in Ghana
is that religion plays a huge role in school. We have a mosque on campus and the Muslims go to pray during
second break (around noon) and then they can choose to pray after closing or
wait until they get home to pray.
For the Christians (and even if you’re not a Christian—but mostly
everyone is) the assembly hall is the “church”. On Wednesday’s everyone goes into the hall including the
Muslim students and they dance and sing and praise God. The school band is live and it’s just a
joyous time. There’s the school
choir and preacher. The student
preacher preaches and then an actual adult preacher preaches a short
sermon. There’s offering and
everything. You would never find
this happening in America, but I find it really cool that the teachers and
students and Muslims and Christians can all come together in peace and be able
to sit through assembly.
