Volume 24No. 2 |Winter 2014
4
YendiCollegeProject - training teachers for ruralGhana
The rural schools inYendi, Ghana, are full of childrenwho
areeager to learn. The tragedy is there are fewqualified
teacherswho areprepared to settle in theharsh, rural,
deprived area.
TheDivineWordMissionaries, together withCatholic
Mission in theArchdioceseof Perth, andother
benefactors arehelping to turn this situation around, by
workingwith theCatholicDioceseof Yendi tobuild a rural
teacher training college.
Its aim is to recruit qualified rural high school students,
and train them as teacherswhowill bewilling and ready
to teach in thedisadvantaged rural schools.
Fr ErasmusNorviewu-Mortty SVD, theYendi Diocese’s
Director for Rural andHigher EducationDevelopment,
who recently completedhis PhD inEducational
Leadershipat Perth’s EdithCowanUniversity, is thedriving
forcebehind theproject, and said it is crucial for the
futureof the youngpeopleof Yendi.
“Theonlywaywe can reduce rural poverty and ignorance,
and alsopromotebetter socioeconomicdevelopment
of thedisadvantaged rural poor ofGhana is togive rural
girls andboys anequal opportunity for quality academic
progression,”he said.
“Thepresent rural schools inYendi, andSaboba, and
other neighbouringdisadvantageddistricts are incapable
of providing theeffective teaching and learning that will
ensure academic success for thousands of rural children.
“It is to stem the current phenomenonof schooling that
producesmainly semi-illiterates due to lackof dedicated
trained teachers, that theCatholicDioceseof Yendi, which
has 100 rural primary andmiddle schools, is establishing
theYendi College.”
In a letter to theSVDAUSProvince, theBishopof Yendi,
Most RevVincent SowahBoi-Nai SVD, saidhehad
initiated theYendi CollegeProject to fill adesperate
need.
“All the current teacherswhowork inour 100Catholic
Primary and JuniorHighSchoolswere trained in
distant teacher training facilities located inperi-urban
communities, andhad littleexposure to theharsh rural
anddeprived conditions of our schools,”he said.
“Thus, upon their appointment toour rural schools,
they hardly staybeyondninemonths, asmost of them
regularlywould take a transfer tourban schools.
“Webelieve that recruiting local rural students and
training them as teachers in aTeacher Educational
Institutionof their own localitywill help in retainingmore
of these teachers to stay after their training, to teach in
their local rural schools.”
BishopVincent said theproject will returnmany rural girls
to the classrooms and alsohelp toeffectively educate
bothChristian children andMuslim children, who currently
constitute themajorityof students in the local Catholic
schools.
“TheeducatedMuslim in aCatholic institution is
potentially apositive asset for rational social interaction,
