top of page

ABOSO BENSO D/A SCHOOL: GHANA

We were proud to announce the completion in late spring 2015 of a two-classroom school house in the village of Gomoa Akroful, Ghana. Thanks to a generous donation from Leslie Moser's Harvard Business School section which covered almost 60% of the costs for this project, Gary's Fund provided the funding to complete a beautiful and spacious school which was desperately needed for the community's pre-school and kindergarten students. As with all of our projects, 100% of our donated funds went to the construction costs and materials, not a dime was spent on administrative or overhead costs in Ghana.

 

​

​

​


2020-2021 - AN UPDATE:

COVID caused the closure of the school for part of the school year (as was the case around the world). Gary's Fund did not provide food assistance to our Ghanaian kindergarten as it is registered as a public school and as a result food is provided by the government. We have learned that a nursery school (creche) has been built on the site shared by our kindergarten and the primary school (which ahs been there since 1940.

Normally (COVID times excepted) our kindergartens 1 and 2 accommodate about 70 children (plus 4 teachers), more than double the number enrolled  prior to the completion of our project. The community is managing. We have offered assistance if needed and are in the process of assessing upcoming needs. 
 
2019: Gary's Fund provided funds for facility improvements which were completed, including:  External and internal cement plastering, painting, finishing of the storeroom and the teachers' office. 

The photo gallery above contains photos of the finished school today.

The photo gallery above contains photos of the pre-school and kindergarten that we replaced.

THE PROJECT:

 

In November 2014, Gary's Fund accepted a proposal to fund the construction of a pre-school/kindergarten in the village of Gomoa Akroful.  

 

In early 2015, Gary's Fund made a donation of $13,000 to our partner in Ghana, Ghanaian Mothers Hope, in order to completely fund the construction of this school including:

 

  • Two classrooms

  • An office and store room,

  • A 5-seater latrine,

  • Furniture and books.

 

SUCCESS:

 

Our school in Ghana was completed in late spring 2015 and was immediately occupied by around 30 young children in grades Kindergarten-1 and Kindergarten-2 along with their teachers.  By 2017 the school had an enrollment of 73 children.

 

Because Aboso Benso D/A School was technically operational prior to our project (even though it was located in an abandoned goat shed), and was loosely affiliated with the village primary school, it is already registered as a government school with the Ghanaian Ministry of Education. 

THE COMMUNITY:

​

The community of Gomoa Akroful is a poor agricultural village with a population of about 4,000.  It is located approximately 2 hours southwest of the Ghanaian capitol city of Accra.  

 

Gomoa Akroful has shown a strong committment to the education of its children going back over 70 years. The people there have managed to continuously maintain and operate a primary school which was built for them in 1947 by the British government. However, when we received our project proposal, this primary school was at full capacity with no space for kindergarten or pre-school classes.

​

THE NEED:

 

In Ghana, the formalization of early childhood education is a relatively recent development and has created the need for pre-schools.

 

Because this is a poor community lacking the resources to construct a pre-school, prior to our project, the village's youngest students were attending class with their teacher in the only available structure…a dilapidated, unhygienic goat shed. The shed had space for 20-30 children at most and the roof leaked so badly class could not be held on rainy days.

 

Due to space limitations and the deplorable conditions, many other young children in the community who wanted to attend pre-school were forced to stay home. 

The photos above show the project underway. 

THE COMMUNITY''S CONTRIBUTION :

 

The existing primary school has a school management team and parent teacher association and managed to raise a portion of the funds for the construction of our pre-school project.  

 

The local district education office provided educational materials.

 

All photos provided by Ghanaian Mothers Hope.

bottom of page