Church Donation Facilitates Educational Improvements in Rural Ghana

School children in two remote villages of the Volta Region in Ghana celebrated, along with teachers and education officials, the handing over of new facilities designed to enhance student engagement in the learning process.  Thanks to a generous donation by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the efforts of Right to Play (RTP), a global NGO, the schools in the communities of Fiavi and Mepe will have facilities and educational programs that empower their school children to overcome some of the challenges of life.

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Included in the handing over of the completed project on 21 March, 2025, were construction and renovation of classrooms, new washroom/toilet facilities, and a girl’s dressing area.  Besides the construction of new classrooms, the Church’s donation enabled Right to Play to provide teachers with much needed school supplies including markers, flip chart paper and stands, projectors, paper, pens, laptop computers, and notepads. 

Perhaps even more impactful than the new classrooms, facilities, and supplies is the project’s two-fold effort to

1. train 320 teachers from 40 primary schools on play-based learning (PBL) approaches, and then coach and mentor them to ensure that their teaching practices become more fun and engaging for students and
2. train 400 parents, executives of the school management committees (SMCs) and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) who will in turn organise quarterly sensitisation sessions and bi-monthly meetings with their peer parents to strengthen their engagements in schools, help them develop and implement school action plans, and improve their capacity to support children's reading at home.

These lofty goals, along with the new classrooms and supplies, have the potential to significantly change the educational prospects for children in these two communities.

As the handing over ceremonies at these locations opened, the audience's attention was first directed to examples of the play-based learning in progress.  A pair of teachers had their classes assembled underneath trees in the playground and the students were engaged in activities and games targeting specific skills such as spelling and math. Their laughter and eager participation were testaments of the effectiveness of the new play-based pedagogies.

The program then continued with speeches by school representatives and executives from across the region, district, and state, including the Chief Inspector of Schools, the Director of Education, the school headmasters, the Right to Play Programs Director and Country Director, religious leaders from within the community, and of course representatives of the Church. In their remarks to those in attendance, the various school officials echoed each other in their praise of the work that had been done, and they were effusive in their expression of gratitude to Right to Play and to the Church for making everything possible. Several of the speakers noted that the donation was not only an investment in the local community, but was an investment in the Country of Ghana as it would empower the rising generation of children in those communities to reach levels of achievement that had not been previously possible, enabling them to give back to the greater community around them.

At one point in the program, students performed a little skit showing how dropping out of school could negatively affect a person’s future.  While some played the parts of their teachers and administrators, others played the parts of their parents, of dedicated classmates, and even of school drop-outs.  They were clearly having fun playing their roles, again illustrating how student engagement impacts the overall learning process.

To further express their joy and appreciation for the improvement to their schooling, students performed beautiful cultural dances accompanied by choirs singing traditional songs. The sense of joy and delight was abundant throughout the performances. 

In his remarks to the audience, Elder Samuel Annan-Simons, Area Seventy of the Church, noted that President Russell M. Nelson has made education a priority in the Church's humanitarian efforts. He then quoted President Nelson who said, "In the Church, obtaining an education and getting knowledge are a religious responsibility.  We educate our minds so that one day we can render service of worth to somebody else.  Again, learning is not an end unto itself, but a means to bless God's children."

He thanked Right to Play for their collaboration in the project and continued: “Our joint effort will bless the lives of many and will be a reflection of our love for God and neighbors.  Today, we are working together to bless the children.”

He concluded his remarks saying, “Please accept this donation from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and from the Right to Play organization, and use it to bless the lives and encourage dreams of all God's children, and to do God's work. We want you to know that we love you, and this is our effort in trying to live the teachings of Jesus Christ, which is to love God and to love our fellow man."

Following the speeches, Elder Annan-Simons participated with Right to Play and school officials in a ribbon cutting ceremony, after which school children continued with their joyful celebrations of cultural dances and songs.