STREET CORNER EDUCATION - ACCRA, GHANA

Catholic Action for Street children (CAS) in Accra, Ghana, has celebrated its 10^th anniversary and for the occasion has published a booklet to present its activities, record its objectives and the guiding principle it upholds. We think it important to report here several extracts from this document whose depth and coherence of thought are quite unique. We very much regret that, owing to the lack of space, we have not been able to quote more texts and we hope that in summarizing it, we have not betrayed its meaning. The booklet (68 pages) is available at the cost of 5 euros (postage included - see below).

* Introductory remarks
* School in the street
* Social work in the streets
* The house of refuge
* The Hopeland Centre
* The sponsorhip programme
* The schooling
* To learn a trade
* The follow up
* To choose a trade
* Setting up in active life
* Summary

In Accra the average age is 15 years and there are three boys for one girl. Nearly all of them have some sort of work and a small wage which helps them to survive; they don’t sniff glue, they are not ex-soldiers and don’t suffer from Aids. They live in the streets under the protection of other children or adults from their own tribe. Sometimes they visit their families back in their village.

The ground work has changed enormously in the last few years for various reasons. Their numbers are in constant progression: 7 000 in 1992, more than 19 000 in 2002. Before, it was much easier for a street child to find work. Now the work is much more sort after. The consequences are that the older children exploit the younger ones. For the girls, in particular, the situation has changed so much that many choose prostitution. The number of children varies according to the seasons.  They migrate within the city and this renders our actions to take care of them more difficult.

These changes have led us to modify the sectors of our activities and to concentrate on those parts of the town where many children live and work. At the end of the year 2000, the social workers decide in which part of the town (which can change each month) their work would be most useful. Mini centres or meeting places were created so that the children could meet the social workers. School education in the street started in some parts of the town. We thus hope to contact more children so as to give them a basic education in health, general rules of behaviour, a little English and simple arithmetic.
"Schools on street corners" will become our main activity for the next few years, as we are convinced that education is one of the solutions to the problems of street children. Education must be seen in the wider sense of the word. To teach a street child how to take care of itself is to educate it. This is why we need neither classrooms nor blackboards nor school benches.

The first thing to do when looking after such children is to accept them as they are and where they are. Money alone cannot resolve their problems. It is the love that you give them which help them. We must never forget that we are dealing with children. It is not possible to provide them with a ready-made solution. This is why the work of CAS is always experimental. We do not have permanent activities. We study and set up projects and then begins the trial period. This way of proceeding often upsets donors. They request concret programmes with fixed budjets. We are therefore extremely grateful to the organisations which finance us and leave us free to carry out our activities. We would like the CAS social workers to stay with us for years to come as they are always ready to experiment and to adapt to the different situations. (...)

It is many years since the idea of educating children in the street was born. In order to carry out a good job, it is important to have a single method to be used by all teachers rather than allowing each teacher to use his own personal method which would confuse the children and who would not receive coherent information. We therefore had to organize a "teaching" method which was comprised of two simple parts (hygiene and health, literacy and behaviour) which can be used by all the teachers, whatever their training or their position within CAS. (...)

Our method consists of arousing curiosity, providing knowledge, changing behaviour. We concentrate on the behaviour of street children and on the training of the teachers. They are not teachers with diplomas but they must know life on the streets and the resulting health problems. They must also possess a real talent for teaching so that they can transmit knowledge and facilitate the changing of behaviour. 

The places where children live and work change frequently. The 12 CAS social workers know their neighbourhood intimately and must contact the children, gain their confidence, listen to what they have to say, and give advice and help. They intervene also with adults in the sectors where the children live. They know who are the leaders, those who are in positions of responsibility, and the various ethnical areas.

Four small refugees have been set up in shops rented by the CAS and offer activities to the children near to the place where they live or work. Here the children can meet with the social workers, play, learn the alphabet and spelling and have lessons on hygiene. The aim is to bring to the children "the school on street corner". To succeed two conditions are essential: find a place near to where the children meet and organise the lessons outside of the hours when the children are at work. However, as the children are for ever on the move, it is difficult to follow a programme as those attending change frequently.

The centres are open to the children each day between 7 am and 6 pm, except on Sundays. Here they can wash themselves and their clothes, play, watch videos, sleep, join in educational activities, ask for help and advice, deposit any savings, begin to relax. There is one condition – respect the rules: no fighting, no stealing, no alcoholic drinks, no smoking or playing for money. 80 children come and go each day. CAS has its office in the same building. In the centre they can have lessons in  literacy and maths at three distinct levels according to their abilities. Those who wish can go to the

residential Hopeland Centre where the tuition is more intensive.

In liaison with the Salvation Army a dispensary exists at the centre. If the treatment is to be administered over a period of time, each child is treated individually to avoid that they loose or sell their medicines.

They also have lessons of "general education". Left to themselves they have little care for cleanliness and hygiene and no balanced diet. They work in filthy and often dangerous conditions. The shelters where they find sleep are dirty and they are subject of sexual abuse. Their health is continually in jeopardy. They need to be alerted to these risks and other dangers and to receive practical advice. Lessons last for half an hour only as concentration is lost beyond this time. During the first 15 minutes the children discuss a given topical problem and suggest solutions. The teacher concludes and explains in simple terms the consequences of incorrect behaviour. One must admit that the children prefer to spend their money on food rather than on soap and water!

One principle of CAS is to let the children decide for themselves whether or not they wish to pursue their education. It is not enough for the children to say "I want to leave the streets", they must prepare themselves for doing so. Many of them do not know what trade they want to take up and are not ready to give up their liberty. They have to prepare themselves.

The preparation is different for each child. Some of them are ready within a year; others try and then give up only to come back later.  If the teaching team believes that the child is not yet ready, he will be offered to stay at the farm where the teachers can better follow the child. It is a big step for a street child to take. Not only is he leaving the streets, he is also leaving the life in the city. 

The centre receives children who have decided to leave the street and to learn a trade. 20 boys and 20 girls can be welcomed simultaneously for courses of 6 to 9 months. The teachers supervise closely each student. The students’ look after poultry, learn pottery and how to make candles, have intensive lessons in literacy and general education.

During this period they must show their capacity to adapt to their new life and show interest in what they are learning (literacy and practical work). This period also gives them time to reflect before taking a decision and allows them to adapt to their new way of life. It also allows the team of educators to get to know and guide the children. During the same period, the social workers, assisted by other members of the team, follow each child. They meet the families and request their authorization to continue the activity. These visits can improve the relationship between the child and its family. Sometimes the families accept to contribute financially to the school fees or its upkeep.

 

The children take care of themselves: they buy their own food, cook, and wash their own clothes. They sleep in dormitories and no longer wander around in the streets.

The children attending the Hopeland Centre will not necessarily study. Some will not go to school nor go to the workshops but will return to the main refuge centre where they are given more time to prepare themselves.

The children have learned from CAS that they need to be well prepared and that the literacy classes given at the refuge centre and at the farm are very important.

A sponsorship programme, initiated 7 years ago, helps children through their studies and to learn a trade. Many of them wanted to leave the streets and to learn a useful trade for their future. 

CAS accepted to help them to learn a trade or to "go back" to school by offering them scholarships on the condition that they, themselves, took the initiative. The very varied age and level of education that the children possess is a problem and we have to help each child individually from the kindergarten to the university. (...)   

Grants are given for an average period of three years whatever training course is followed. The Children are between 14 to 16 years of age when they decide to leave the street. The only option for them is to learn a trade. This has been the case for 80% of them over the past seven years. A good apprenticeship takes several years and includes a lot of practical training. The child receives a diploma at the end of his studies, thus allowing him to find work. This sponsorship programme has been in existence for the past seven years and, since 1995, 480 have benefited from it.

At any one time CAS can sponsor up to 250 children. Sadly to say, through lack of funds to support the system of prolonged training, certain students are led to abandon their studies. (...)

Why hasn’t CAS have its own educational structures?

CAS has not set up its own educational structures for several reasons:
- One teacher is required for five children and this is too costly.
- The CAS children are at different educational levels and are interested in many different trades.
- Only a few children can be taught.
- Many schools and workshops have vacancies.
- By going to state schools, the street children are automatically integrated into society.

The children attached to each centre pursue their studies, in small groups of 4 or 5 pupils, at schools or in workshops; in larger groups they gang up and might receive a treatment different to that of the other students. Our network currently includes 109 workshops and 65 schools. The children sometimes board at school or in a hostel or hotel; some have their own housing. Each child is followed by a monitor, who visits at least once a month, and gives encouragement and help in resolving logistical or financial problems. Some children will leave to visit family without asking permission and don’t come back in time for their course. However most children who start studying become students like the others and don’t return to the streets. It is important that, during the studies, the teacher and child examine together what the child wishes to do later, of what he is capable and what is feasible. It is desirable too to watch over the contacts the child has with its family. (...)    

CAS takes charge of the canteen, school transport, accommodation and medical care. The child can also participate in the financing of its schooling by supplying his own school books, with money earned during the school holidays or by paying for his transport to visit his family, by informing CAS on the evolution of its education and by helping the CAS team at the refuge and by cooperating with his instructor and his teaching. Certain attend kindergarten, others primary, secondary or technical schools as well as professional training establishments and one even went to the university.

Many of them who have decided to take up their studies are 14 to 15 years old.  They are generally too old to follow the traditional education system which explains why many of them become apprentices. Here there is plenty of choice.  Some learn a traditional trade, others learn how to use a computer or study electronics. The educational levels required to enter the workshops and schools are high. Often we are incapable of reaching such high levels because we have our limits.

Children in apprenticeship leave the streets and we help them to find an internship or a room to hire near their school. They are supervised by an instructor who makes sure that they are well taught and suitably equipped. They receive pocket money and money for their food as well as free medical treatment. These costs amount to half of the grants. They also receive a complete box of tools at the end of their studies. We have included the cost of the boxes in the apprenticeship budget, thus hoping to encourage the children to create their own business or to find work. It is most important that they obtain a diploma which will enable them to find employment.  Whenever possible, the child will follow English classes because, without the knowledge of English, his chances of finding a job are reduced. (...)

A member of the team, a supervisor, backs up the child during its schooling. He goes, at least once a month, to the school to check up on the teaching and the way in which the child is adapting to its new situation. He talks both the people responsible at the school as well as to the child. A coordinator helps the supervisors in their difficult task. Next year we will try to improve this activity so that the children benefit even more from the support provided by a social worker from CAS. We will also find means to improve the preparation of the children. 

Once the studies are finished, the child must take care of itself. CAS can guide and advise him if necessary until he is completely independent.

The children don’t know which trade to choose so CAS has provided a small range of trades to prevent disillusionment and help the children to stay in one place all day instead of wandering about town. At the start, before any choice is made, explanation is given of what is entailed in the various crafts of weaving, woodwork, pottery or candle-making. Certain monitors are themselves ex- street children and have the advantage of an excellent contact with the children, though they do not always have the required teaching abilities and this can cause difficulties. They need to work under the guidance of trained staff. The products made by the children are sold in a CAS rented shop also in hotels and markets, all of which helps to alert the public to the children’s needs. With the same objective in mind notices, prospectus and photographs are distributed to the local community.

Once schooling is complete, CAS can make a modest financial contribution to help them set up in business or find a job. This help is not handed out on a plate, they must first start by proving their worth and perseverance.

Those children who choose a trade are in general satisfied with the training they receive and the trade they have chosen. Few, only 6%, have difficulties of adaptation. Some trades that the children choose don’t offer outlets, sometimes because they require electricity available in larger towns, or where there is a larger number of potential customers (hairdressing, dressmaking, mechanics, bricklaying, etc.). CAS tries to orientate towards those trades which offer employment (computers, electronics, catering and tourism).

For more information, contact Catholic Association for Street childen:

... Challenges and difficulties

Created on 15 november, 2007