Child-Friendly Schools Re-Invent Education in Rural Ghana

Narrator: Elizabeth is the eldest of the four Naparis children still at
home, a daughter in a culture that traditionally priced as
sons.

Peter Naparis: Elizabeth is good in school. So I am determined to help her
succeed in education.

Narrator: Peter makes sure his daughter and her siblings go to school
each and every day. But at this child-friendly school, the
emphasis is as much on girls as it is on boys. Traditionally
in this village, girls get married not educated.

Biikook Gideon Konlan: The parents would say that, “When your daughter becomes
a woman in your home, then the next month, she should be
married.”

Narrator: Outside the open air classes, village life to its past. Keeping
children in school is a major battle for educators in Ghana.
Less than half of the men from this area are educated.

Biikook Gideon Konlan: Without education, you have to just till the land or you
become a laborer at down south to weed under the coco
farm or in the mines.

Narrator: But child-friendly schools are striking at the heart of this
problem. -- battle is an attractive and relevant curriculum.

Education is free in Ghana but that doesn’t mean there
aren't heavy costs for families.

Elizabeth Naparis: This one is my notebook in English.

Narrator: The greatest sacrifice though, maybe the loss of the child’s
labor. Helping is the amount of daily chores that directly
related to freeing kids up for school and fetching water is
one of the most intensive chores of all.

Here, UNICEF has made an invaluable contribution to the
community by providing ample clean water through wells.
At school, there are also two wells, also separate toilets for
girls and boys.

Elizabeth and her best friend Naomi diligently practice the
good hygiene they are learning at school.

Naomi: Our teachers taught us how to wash our hands before eating
because if you didn’t wash your hands and go home and
you sit to eat, we will get disease from that.

Elizabeth D’Sousa: Whatever she learns in school has effects in the home and
this is for the benefits for the parents and for the other
siblings.

The child is not just living for today but every child has a
future.

Elizabeth Naparis: I want to be a doctor because there is no hospital or a
doctor in this village.

Narrator: School is giving Elizabeth a place to grow her dreams.

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information, go to unicef.org. Unite for children.