Twenty staff made up of seven foreign interns and 13 local teachers have undergone a two-day in-service training and capacity building on modern teaching methods, culture, and knowledge sharing in Accra on Saturday.
Put together by the Street Academy, a sports and culture non-governmental organisation based in Ghana, the initiative was to understand the Ghanaian culture and also acquire knowledge on how the Ghanaian school system operates.
Briefing the media at the event, Development Consultant and Attorney of Street Academy, Ms. Melani Mennella, said the exercise would aid the foreign volunteers to understand the culture, non-formal training and power dynamics between the capacitator and the learners.
She said the Street Academy operates using the Agency, Inclusion, Development and Socialisation (AIDS) approach where every child needs support, has access to programmes to ensure development and socialise to be culturally accepted in the society.
The Director for Street Academy, Mr Ataa Lartey, said the initiative formed part of the new curriculum introduced by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and it was essential to upgrade the insight of the children with the new teaching practices.
He said facilitators were withdrawn from the GES, Social Welfare and the Non-formal sector to educate the volunteers on the field so they can also absolve and impact into these children.
With a total of 52 children, Mr Lartey assured that the academy would enroll more of the street children should the Covid-19 pandemic be a thing of the past.
Beneficiaries from Denmark lauded the initiative and said they have learnt a lot which would be implemented when they leave Ghana.
The Street Academy, which has been in existence for over 25 years, uses education through culture, sports to expose the hidden talents of the less-privileged children living on the streets of Accra.
BY LINUS SIAW NARTEY
