Ghanaian teachers visit Seamount College

SOUTH Galway pupils got a flavour of African teaching this week as two Ghanaian teachers were guests at Seamount College in Kinvara. The two teachers visited the school as part of an international teacher exchange programme funded by Irish Aid.
In 2007, teacher Margo MacDonnell, now principal, was instrumental in setting up a development education course in the school.
“It is an interest of my own because I worked with charities down through the years. In June 2008, another teacher, Geraldine Connors, and I visited Ghana on a teachers’ emersion programme and we taught in a Ghanaian school. While we were there we visited the local bishop and we said we would like to set up a link between Seamount College and a similar girls school in the area. Then we were linked to Notre Dame Girls’ Senior High School in Fiapre, Sunyani. That link has continued and our girls have communicated through letters and cards with students there. We also study similar topics around development and share our outcomes,” explained Ms MacDonnell.
Ms MacDonnell and Ms Connors went to Ghana on a voluntary basis, funding the trip themselves.
“What we learn from this type of exchange is that young people are the same the world over and parents have the same dreams and sacrifice the same amount to get their children through education. Our skin colour may be different but our dreams and hopes for the future are the same. Young people still like to watch football or keep up to date with what the soap stars are doing. It is more about similarity than what differences are there,” she says.
English teacher Naomi Tanowa Gordor and science teacher Augustine Akwowuki Akidam arrived in Ireland late last week. After spending some time in a Dublin school, the two travelled to County Galway at the weekend and began teaching classes on Monday.
Ms Tanowa Gordor outlined the differences between Notre Dame and Seamount.
“The biggest difference is that our school is very large, about two or three times the size of Seamount. The students are easier to handle here because they are small in number, meanwhile we have large classes. This is a day school, while 90% of our students are boarders. There are about 620 pupils in our school and some travel for as much as six hours to get to it.”
For her, the similarities are more striking than the differences and she believes that links between schools in the developed and developing worlds are hugely beneficial for the pupils and teachers alike.
“This trip is wonderful because it has given us the opportunity to see a different culture to ours, to see a different climate, to see how people here are different, to see how our colleagues in our profession are different but the students are not so different to ours. The students here wanted to know more about Ghana because they have heard of Ghana and seen it on the map and seen some pictures, so they were asking more about it. Students in Notre Dame know about Ireland and most write to pupils here in Seamount College. This has given them the chance to interact with students in another country and I think that is a wonderful idea. They discuss the environment, the weather, culture, everything. They share ideas,” she explained.
For science teacher Mr Akwowuki Akidam, one major difference between the teaching of the subject in Ireland and in Ghana is the amount of time required.
“We use the normal school day but sometimes that isn’t enough time so you have to reschedule classes. When the normal school day finishes, you have to come back to get everything finished,” he explained.
This, according to Mr Akwowuki Akidam, is something the pupils are grateful for.
“If the teacher is making time for them, they are happy. Their exam at the end of the school year is based on the syllabus and the school year isn’t long enough to complete it so the children are grateful to you that you give your time to help them complete the syllabus on time,” he outlined.
A further feature of the exchange is that the teachers live with families in the community.
“It is very interesting because you have your own time to look around but you also come into a family and have the opportunity to experience Irish family life and I think that is important,” Mr Akwowuki Akidam stated.
Notre Dame is in central Ghana near a forest zone far from the coast but with a river running nearby.
“Kinvara itself is very nice place. You are close to the sea and that is very good. The climate is good. We are feeling it a bit cold but I believe it was worse a few weeks ago. We are seeing traditional Irish homes and that is important. It is giving us a picture of the past and the present and we are really enjoying ourselves,” he continued.
Seamount College’s deputy principal, Ms Connors, found her visit to Ghana in 2008 very rewarding.
“We first stayed in Bantama and the conditions there were very, very basic but it was a very well-run school. The students were interested in learning. They were well presented in their uniforms, had a strict timetable and we had to follow their curriculum precisely while we were there so the children wouldn’t fall behind. We had to teach their way while we were out there. The students were very interested in learning and were really excellent students, even though they were from very poor families. I was teaching science in the secondary school and Margo was teaching the full national school curriculum in a primary school,” she recalls.
“I couldn’t believe how poor the people were and how rough they had it but how interested in learning they were, how motivated they were and how hard their parents worked. Their parents worked in projects run by Irish Aid and every penny they earned went to their children’s education and to progress from primary level to second level. It was amazing how much the children appreciated it. Our children here don’t appreciate it as much,” Ms Connors continued.
Both the Seamount College principal and deputy principal are enthusiastic about the visit of their Ghanaian colleagues and the progression of development education in the school.
“The girls get an appreciation for other cultures and what happens in Ghana and how they might contribute. They communicate with the girls from Notre Dame. They get a good understanding of their educational system and their limitations and how hard they struggle for everything they get,” Ms Connors outlined.
“They have developed a global perspective, thinking about other people rather than themselves and how to appreciate things they have,” Ms MacDonnell concluded.
The pupils are holding a concert for the school community in Seamount College on Friday to celebrate the Ghanaian teachers’ visit. The pair return home on Sunday.