Peace Corps volunteer teachers arrive on Friday

Accra, June 8, GNA - Twenty-six US Peace Corps Volunteers would arrive in Accra on Friday to teach various subjects in Senior Secondary Schools in all 10 regions for two years, a statement from the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Accra said on Wednesday. The Peace Corps volunteers would teach Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Integrated Science, Mathematics, Information Technology and Visual Arts. The statement said at present, 50 Peace Corps Volunteers teach in mostly rural schools that had problems recruiting Ghanaian teachers, including some schools for the Deaf. It said two areas in which Peace Corps Volunteers were increasingly involved were setting up and managing Science Resource Centres and Computer Labs.

"Some Peace Corps Volunteers are also involved in teaching computer skills to students, peer teachers and some members of their communities. "Education Peace Corps Volunteers are also establishing and facilitating Information Technology (IT) facilities and helping their students, teachers and communities to access the Internet." The statement said some of the Peace Corps Volunteers had also been able to connect their schools with other schools in the US via e-mail. It said apart from classroom teaching and school or community secondary projects, Education Peace Corps Volunteers had collaborated in the writing of supplementary teaching materials, including manuals for Elective Chemistry, Elective Chemistry Practical, Elective Physics, Core Mathematics and Computing.

"Plans are underway to develop manuals for Elective Mathematics, Elective Biology and Integrated Science." The statement said Peace Corps Volunteers had also completed a Visual Art manual. "These manuals are a compilation of lesson plans, sources of teaching materials/aids, teaching methodologies and other best practices. These manuals are used not only by Volunteers but also by Ghanaian teachers and their students." It said there were also plans to provide each of the 470 public Senior Secondary School libraries with these manuals once they were reviewed and finalized so that a wider range of beneficiaries could have access to them.