By Jesse Ampah Owusu
Accra, Feb. 21, GNA – The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is making significant contributions to Ghana’s education sector through its Overseas Cooperation Volunteers programme.
The Agency, during a media tour to the Akatsi Demonstration School and Dzelukope R/C Basic School in the Volta Region, saw the impact some of its volunteers were making.
The tour aimed at showcasing JICA’s contributions to Ghana’s socioeconomic development ahead of the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development in August.
The 43 volunteers are working in different parts of the country and in various sectors including education, health, agriculture, private sector development, and sports.
At the Akatsi Demonstration School, the delegation visited Ms Asuka Haga, a volunteer teacher, who taught deaf students Creative Arts to improve their literacy and expression skills.
She created teaching materials to help them in their English lessons, using locally available tools.
Ms Haga recalled her first arrival at the school, when most of the children could neither read nor write, but with consistent practice and innovative teaching techniques, they had now acquired basic English reading and writing skills.
“Seeing their progress gives me so much joy. It is fulfilling to know that they can now read and write simple English sentences,” she said.
Madam Stella Sogbor, the Headmistress of the School, commended JICA for its intervention, saying the students were now more engaged and eager to learn due to her teaching methods.
She urged parents in the community and elsewhere to enroll their deaf children in schools since they were capable to learn and excell in education.
The delegation continued their tour to the Keta Municipality, where they met Daisuke Yasugi, another volunteer at Dzelukope R.C. Basic school, teaching practical Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills.
Daisuke’s teaching approach involves using computer games to make his ICT lessons more interactive and engaging.
“We use simple programming games to teach Mathematics and ICT, and this has significantly improved their understanding,” he said.
Mr Daisuke said when he arrived at the school, he realised that most of the students had not used computers before, so he had to adopt an approach that would make teaching and learning of ICT easier and practicable.
Nathaniel Kpesese, a JHS student, said Daisuke took his time to teach them to understand the subject whenever they had challenges.
Since 1977, JICA has dispatched more than 1,600 JICA volunteers to Ghana, who worked hand in hand with their Ghanian counterparts in the communities, to share ideas and bring positive changes to those areas.
GNA