Development projects -> Cootingli Schooll

NURSERY SCHOOL IN KOTINGLI

Background

One of the rural villages south of Tamale is called Kotingli. It's a small farming village with a lot of children growing up. Many of them were suffering from a lack of education mostly because of financial problems. There was a school building but no teacher or classes. In 2004 village representatives approached CID-Ghana for help in running the school. CID decided to support the village by freshening up the school, employ a teacher and provide volunteers to support the teacher and help in managing the school. CID also initiated a cooperation with the ministry of health to provide the school children with food one time a day.

Progress

The nursery school has been sucessfully developed by the support of private donors and dedicated volunteers. At this moment the school is divided into two classes, with 135 children between the ages of 3 and 7. While the infrastructure and the facilities of the school are still expanding and developing with support of CID-Ghana, one determined teacher is taking care of both classes at once, which can often be an exhausting job. As much as possible the teacher is supported by European volunteers. Every week the school committee, which consists of 10 men and women of the village, sits together and discuss various things about the future of the nursery school.

A kitchen attached to the school has been built and and food provided by the ministry of health is prepared for the children everyday. The kitchen was put up by the people of the village with financial support by CID and the mothers take turns in cooking.

The most recent improvement of the school was a renovation of the building. Material was donated by the CID-Ghana president and the CID-Ghana staff and volunteers did the renovation. Tools and other material necessary were gathered and in two days the school doors were all fixed and painted and the outside walls were renovated and painted. While working on the school food was bought and prepared by the CID staff. The untiring and delicate attitude put up brought the Kotingli community awake. They expressed gratitude for our work but did not hide the amazement in the way staff worked especially seeing staff carrying sand, mixing motor and building wall, fixing doors etc. The school now looks bright and neat for classroom learning.



In February 2008 CID talked with the founder of Lovely Minds, a nongovernmental organization formed in London with the aim of making children between 3 and 6 lean through play. The founder, Miss Alison Naftalin was therefore in consultation with CID for a possible partnership to set up play centers in Tamale. Kotingli nursery school was promising and a center was set up with 10 Ghanaian Junior Secondary School volunteers trained to run the play center.
The play center basically uses cheap materials to made toys and games for play. After a sensitization meeting with the community, 2 groups of 20 children a day for 3 days in a weak of play and learning went on. This has encouraged so many children to come to the school and have brought about improvement in the enrolments of the school.

The play center also teaches the children good hygiene practices as part of their play. One of the conditions of the play center is that all children must have their hands washed before they enter into the center. They do not only wash but they learn the rudiments of getting themselves clean before their events in the class. Liquid soap is provided by the center and as a sign of commitment the children must bring water from home. The games played in the center include counting games, matching games, colors, numbers, shapes and sizes etc.

After three months of running the center, a one-day refresher training was held for all the volunteers manning the play centers in Tamale. Watches and reading books were earlier on given out to the volunteers as a motivation and for them to learn themselves so as to teach the young ones well. Additionally, the watches will make them keep proper time.