Junior Secondary Schools in the Ashanti Region of
Ghana
Welcome
to National 
Gardening
Association’s continuing report from Ghana. Payson Bullard,
our intrepid reporter from TechnoServe, is now in Juaben, Ashanti–in
the south central region of Ghana. Take out your maps and travel
along as he meets a student in Juaben Methodist "Junior
Secondary" school.
Eric Opoku-Serebour
is 13 years old and attends "Junior Secondary" school,
which is similar to America’s junior high school. Eric
has 300 students in his school and 13 teachers for 6 classrooms.
Eric’s favorite teacher is Mr. Kwadwo Owusu, his math teacher.
Besides
math, Eric studies history (visit Ghana
Home Page to learn more about the history of Ghana), English
(he writes most of the school newsletters), and vocational skills,
where he learns about restaurant management and food preparation
and service. He likes to make a dish called "Ampesi,"
which consists of sliced and boiled yams or plantains served
with komtomire (spinach). His studies also include music,
religion, and technical drawing.
Every Friday,
Eric's class spends a few hours taking care of the school gardens.
The students rake, water, and weed–using machetes–both
the garden beds and the surrounding school grounds. The plants
in the gardens have been transplanted from teachers'
The
school supplies hand rakes and spades, but students
are encouraged to bring their own gardening tools.
|
and students'
home gardens. Before planting, the students add fertilizer and
compost to the beds. Eric likes to weed and water.
In the
town next to his home, Eric's father has a large grove of orange
trees. The oranges are harvested from September through November.
Eric works at the grove on weekends during harvest time.
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© 2009
National Gardening Association