The children in the Amppain refugee camp in western Ghana have been provided with the opportunity for learning by the Varkey Foundation Teach to Reach Remote Classrooms Project (TRC) which is funded by the UNHCR as part of their agenda to proffer solution to refugee crises around the world and also connecting to the World Refugee Day.
The Varkey Foundation has been supporting about 225 school-age children at Primary School in Amppain, their classes have to be equipped with a computer and a projector to receive lessons. Since April this year, the foundation has been sending qualified teachers from Accra to visit the schools and give lessons to the children in different classes.
Vikas Pota, CEO of the Varkey Foundation, said, “The project in the Amppain Refugee Camp is giving students foundational skills in reading, writing, and numeracy that will allow them to overcome language barriers, make up for learning loss, and access the national curriculum to integrate into their host community. This project can make a real difference because it is quick to mobilise and can be scaled up, delivering lessons to more refugee settings around the globe. Most importantly, it is a long-lasting solution which is what is required due to the length of time that children often end up staying in refugee camps.”
The Teach to Reach programme is a sub-project of the Making Ghanaian Girls Great! The project, MGCubed run by The Varkey Foundation since 2014. Whose objective is to advance the quality of education for over 10,000 marginalized children within two specific regions in Ghana; Volta and Greater Accra and this has been a great success since its inception. One of the successes recorded by the Varkey Foundation includes the eradication of illiteracy among teenage girls with skills and technology. And also to change their mindsets about certain stereotyped beliefs.
Ms. Ioli Kimyaci, UNHCR Ghana Country Representative said, “We’re delighted to see at first hand this innovative, cost-effective project which is enabling children who would otherwise be denied a quality education now have access to a qualified teacher.”
