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Agona Swedru School�Ghana

History of involvement with the school and plan to build the

Rotary District 1070 Science Laboratory

Presented by: Alfred Hanson and Paul Bertin

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History and background

Alfred and I worked together in Northamptonshire and on his retirement I was invited to visit the school in January 2017. He as a child was a pupil at the school and on his return to his home town was distressed to find the school in a poor state of repair and with limited resources for teaching skills for the 21^st Century.

Since then

Close working contacts have been established with the local management committee and we have complete visibility and oversight of the work being done.
We have support of the Rotary club of Winneba who have visited the school.
Since 2017, Kettering Huxloe with support from Kettering have built and fully equipped an IT suite with full internet access.
This has enabled pupils of the school to enhance their general education and some have gone on to win national prizes for IT skills.

Agona Swedru School

There are approx. 800 pupils aged from 4 to 15. The Laboratory will be used by children aged 10 to 15.
There are five other schools in close proximity with another 3300 pupils, none of which have a science Laboratory.
The building would be open for an extended school day to allow all schools to use it.

STEM education in Ghana

Government of Ghana has STEM education at the heart of the new educational reform which is been implemented and the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service is poised to ensure full implementation STEM.
The effective implementation of STEM education requires relevant resources such as technological tools, robotics, science laboratory, IT tools etc. to make instructions practical base and child centered
The establishment of Science Laboratory at the Methodist Basic school to serve cluster of schools by Rotary Club, UK coordinated by Mr. Hanson has further boosted the science practical lesson in the beneficiary schools.
The establishment of STEM Laboratory in the Agona West Municipality will be the first of its kind in the Central Regional of Ghana and will be the major STEM Resource Centre for all the schools in the Municipality to enhance practical lessons since none of the schools in the Municipality has science laboratory.

Temporary science facility

In Q4 2022 we received a district grant to help with the purchase of science equipment. This is now in place in a temporary classroom until such time as we can build the new Laboratory.
The building would be open for an extended school day to allow all schools to use it.
Previously science was taught from text books. The temporary facility has enhanced that teaching with some practical experience, and we look forward to opening a new purpose build classroom when teaching can be taken to a whole new level.
Teachers are provided via a national service scheme, in which graduates work in the school.

Finance (Building)

The cost of the building is estimated at £25K
We have pledges totalling £8K from clubs in the district, in order to make an application for matching funds from district. TOTAL £16K.
A further £2K from Kettering Huxloe, and £7K from other clubs and individual Rotarians giving us a total of £25K.
School Alumni who have gone on to make successful careers around the world have been approached to support the school. The pledges from these individuals, plus pledges from a local church, will be sufficient to purchase the balance of equipment and a number of additional PCs.
NOTE: as part of the work to date a Trust Fund has been established for the school which will provide monies going forward to ensure that the project is sustainable with all school buildings, including the science laboratory being properly maintained.

Finance (Equipment)

A number of clubs and individual Rotarians have made donations towards the project but are not part of the Multi club district grant application.
With the help of a 2022/23 District grant of £2K, and £2K from Kettering Huxloe, the school is purchasing a good range of science equipment, materials and furniture for the new laboratory.
Until the lab has been built, these items will be used to a limited extent in an existing classroom, 50% of which has to be kept clear for other classes.
When the new lab is ready, these items will be moved into it and a further £5K will be spent to fully fit and equip it.

What Next?

Once the Science laboratory is built and equipped we believe that we will have completed the process of making the school a centre of learning excellence, which will not only benefit its own pupils but also pupils of other schools in the vicinity.