‘Finally the Lord has done it,
finally finally!’ Even before Knowledge for Children has brought any books to Presbyterian
Primary School (PS) Ngashie, the pupils, teachers and parents are already very
excited. They sing the famous song to express their happiness and excitement.
Only the idea that soon their school will hopefully benefit from the Knowledge
for Children program makes them very happy.
PS Ngashie is located in a
rural village in the Anglophone North West Region of Cameroon. It has an enrolment
of 81 boys and 91 girls. The nursery school has an additional 30 boys and 32
girls In the school, 6 teachers (including two nursery teachers) try to teach
the pupils as good as they can. However, it is not easy. Like in almost all
rural primary schools in Cameroon, there are no textbooks and no teaching aids.
Three teachers did not go for formal teacher training. In both primary and
nursery section, half of the teachers were not professionally trained.
PS Ngashie will be the 134th
school to benefit from the Knowledge for Children program. In this program,
Knowledge for Children donates government prescribed textbooks to the school.
Unique is the co-investment structure in which the parents contribute and pay a
total of 30% of all books. Knowledge for Children works with a school for three
years. After these three years, every two children sharing a bench have access
to one textbook in English, Sound and Word Building, Mathematics and General
Knowledge.
Besides donating textbooks,
Knowledge for Children also trains the teachers of the school. This is essential
as the official teacher training lasts only for nine months. Many teachers are
not well prepared to teach. The ones that are trained and experienced still
find it difficult to make efficient use of the textbooks as they have been
teaching without books for long. Knowledge for Children therefor trains and
coaches teachers on aspects like child centred teaching, use of books in the
classroom and evaluation techniques.
Not only teachers, also
parents are trained. In the Community Leadership Program, the parents choose
representatives who will be responsible to ensure continuous investment in the
school after Knowledge for Children has phased out from a school. They will
learn how to manage the books, how to manage finances etc.
The children, teachers and
parents of PS Ngashie can’t wait to see textbooks and to start using them in
class. You can help us to make it possible! The children of PS Ngashie count on
your support to realize their dreams for the future.
For example, Blessing is a
pupil in class five. When she grows up she wants to be a journalist. It will be
difficult for Blessing to reach this dream without having access to text books.
The children in class one and
two all want to become a ‘Madam’. Their teacher inspires them so much that even
the boys want to be her when they grow up. Of course not all of them will
become teachers, but with the help of text books at least some of them will be
able to become teachers in their future.
With your help, PS Ngashie can
become a Knowledge for Children school. Be assured that the day Knowledge for
Children will bring the first books, the song will even be louder; ‘Finally the
Lord has done it!’.
We started a crowd funding page to raise money. If you want to help, you can donate through this page. You can also donate through me in cash or through my Dutch bank account (contact me for details).
Thanks a lot in advance!
