Thursday, March 8

We spent the entire day at Accra Girls Secondary School just a few miles from our hotel.  It's a public high school with roughly 1500 students enrolled.  The day starts at 7 am with a convocation including a rousing speech on ethics, morals and behavior by a chosen teacher.  We three teachers (Pete, Randy and I) were warmly welcomed by the entire faculty and presented with banners embroidered with "Akwaaba" (welcome). The girls stood in rows and giggled and smiled at us.  The seemed truly pleased we were visiting.  I'm anxious to talk to them and get to know them.  The facility is quite large and includes several classroom buildings and 3 dormitories along wtih numerous bungalows for teachers and staff.  Osman, our teacher/host toured us around the entire facility.  Most fascinating was the kitchen area that looked very similar to how I imagine a farm kitchen might have appeared 100 years ago.  They had large open kettles of boiling water.  The cooks, who were very friendly and wanted to show us everything, were sitting on stools outside skillfully gutting fish for dinner.  They showed us how they prepare rice and fish and wanted their pictures taken.  They must prepare 3 meals each day for over 1000 students. We had a sample at lunch and, honestly, it was the best meal I've had in Ghana so far!

AFter our tour of the grounds and facilities, we returned to the headmistress' office to meet the administrators, consisting of the headmistress herself, 2 assistant administrators and the head house mother (in charge of the dorms, meals, etc for boarders).  We had quite an extensive discussion of the structure and expectations of education in our respective countries.  In Ghana, education is a completely federally governed entity.  The Ministry of Education determines policies that are carried out by the Ghana Education Service (GES) - both are bureaucratic/political entities. The GES determines, writes and amends the national curriculum as it sees fit.   The GES hires district supervisors who in turn manage the districts within the country made up of circuits.  Teachers come out of college and are employed by the GES and are placed in schools according to need.  Teachers are all paid on the same scale and have no say in where they're placed or what responsibilities they'll have. We met with all of the department heads and they generously gave of their time and reflections on teaching.  I can honestly say that I'd be proud to teach alongside any of them.  They clearly enjoy the students and enjoy teaching and take pride in the work they do.

Today we had the opportunity to observe a chemistry lab.  Students were testing different foods for pH levels using indicators.  We observed a physics lecture on forces and friction.  The class easily had 60 students who were all busily taking notes and following the instruction closely - even in the oppressive heat.  My body is just not accustomed to this heat.  I think I sweated more today than all of last summer in Minnesota.  Of course, when we got back to the hotel I was looking forward to my nice cool room, but the air conditioner wasn't working.......thankfully my friendly hotel maintenance man got it going and now I'm cooling off.  I'd better sign off now before I lose Internet service.  I'll write more later