A group of past and present students of Delhi Private International School (DPIS), Ghana helped their peers at Dawhenya Methodist Junior High School B Public School prepare for the upcoming Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The teenage volunteers living in Community 25 of Tema district, supported by their parents, helped candidates fill gaps in subject areas including English, science, mathematics, social science and practical information and communication technology (ICT).
A group of students; Karla-Anne Mirchandani, Adwoa Serwaah Kwarteng, Brianna Maame Araba Ashun, Sibongile Henaku, Sharon-Joan Tsimese, Anselmo Hesse-Larty, Janice Hesse-Larty.
Under the supervision of parents and in cooperation with public school teachers, volunteers prepared lesson notes and planned a teaching schedule that matched the lessons already taught by regular school teachers.
In addition, they used their own laptops to give their colleagues hands-on experience with spreadsheets, paint applications, word processing, and search engine functions.
The activity was facilitated by the provision of learning materials by the parents of the teenage volunteers, ranging from English story books, science equipment, maths and social studies printouts and laptops with ICT data packs.
At the end of the academic term, students presented 80 story books to 76-80 BECE candidates to improve their reading skills.
Carla-Anne Mirchandani, one of the volunteers, said they decided to help the BECE students so they could complete the curriculum in light of the general strike in public schools.
She called on the government and heads of educational institutions in public schools to improve teaching to enable students to adequately prepare for the exam.
One of the parent volunteers, Mrs. Dora Kwarteng, said that “this period has been an eye-opener for our children to appreciate public education and compare it to private/international education to gain experience in life as they grow and become adults. “
The head teacher of Dawhenya Methodist B Basic School, Mrs. Rita Arkhin thanked the volunteer teenagers, their parents and management of DPIS Ghana for their intervention.
“They left indelible memories in the minds of our candidates, and they promised to follow their example. My staff and I are eternally grateful,” she said.
The director of the school, Matilda Dedenartey, thanked colleagues from DPIS for their selflessness.
“They gave us hands-on lessons and explained what our teachers taught us, and the experience was great,” she said.
