Newsletter:

[Spring 2009 ]

In The News:

Alice's Dream
by Alice Azumi Iddi-Gubbels

(Montessori Life, Vol. 18, no. 3, 2006. Reprinted with permission.)

I was born and grew up in a rural village, Bongbini, in the northern part of Ghana. During colonial times, which ended in 1957 when Ghana gained its independence, the north was considered by many as backward, peopled by the ignorant and unschooled, and good only as a source of cheap labor. In my village, school was not held in high regard. Children, especially girls, were needed at home to help with the labor necessary to sustain life. Without my father's insistence, I would not be where I am today. I actually skipped school for two months in the fourth grade, but when he learned of my truancy, he punished me and sent me back.

My interest in mother tongue (MT) education goes back to my primary school experience in this poor rural area of northern Ghana where the use of the vernacular (Mampruli) was prohibited. Not only were we not instructed in MT, we were punished if we used it.

Today the northern part of Ghana remains less developed than the south, and has fewer education resources. Children, especially girls, are still kept at home to help with the household work. Most children in northern Ghana speak only their mother tongue when they start school. Current official policy is that from grades 1 to 3 the official medium of instruction is MT, which switches to English at grade 4. Most teaching materials after the third grade are in English. Children are tested almost exclusively in English, in both oral and written forms. This means they must learn to speak, read and write a foreign, unfamiliar language (English) to be successful in school. "Learning" is, therefore, mostly rote, with little real understanding; children often acquire just enough to get through the tests.

An evaluation of pilot projects by USAID/Ghana and the Ghanaian Ministry of Education revealed a crisis in reading comprehension in public schools, showing that less than 10% of sixth graders can read with grade level understanding. The situation is particularly dire for he Mamprusi people, the people of my village, who live in one of the most deprived areas  of Ghana. The Mamprusi have one of the lowest literacy rates in the country. According to Ghana Education Service, statistics from 2000 ndicate the literacy rate in the Mampruli language is below 1%, and in English below 5. School enrollment is below 40%, and dropout and grade repeat rates are very high.

Over the years, I have observed the vicious cycle that undermines the effectiveness of and access to good basic education in my own village and family, and in poor rural areas in general. There is a huge "reality gap" between school and children's everyday lives. The weak foundation of the early school years places children of poor rural families at a serious disadvantage. Many drop out; a few struggle on in school but without success. Their educational level is too poor to enable them to find jobs, yet they no longer fit in their communities. This further discourages parents from sending their children to school.

I have been one of the few fortunate enough to overcome these obstacles. My life path has given me opportunities to pursue my own education and careers in rural development and early childhood education. In 2000 when my husband accepted a position at the World Neighbors' headquarters in Oklahoma City, I discovered Montessori as a vital approach to elementary education. My experience working at Westminster School in Oklahoma City led to Montessori certification in elementary education and, later, early childhood certification and the completion of a Master's in Education in 2004.

I have learned a great deal from other cultures. Paradoxically, these experiences have increased my appreciation for my own culture: I now want to make a contribution to my native community. It contributed to whom I am now, and I want to give back in a way that will have a significant impact.

I believe that literacy is a necessary prerequisite for successful living in this post-modern world; I also believe all children are entitled to the most efficacious learning environments possible during early and middle childhood and that this education must be relevant to the children's culture, communities, and lives.

My dream, then, is of education and I call it PAMBE-Ghana (Partnership for Mother Tongue-based Education in Ghana). It is a project to provide excellent, culturally appropriate primary education in a nurturing environment for children in  northern Ghana. Children learn most effectively when teaching and learning begin with and build on what they already know.

Based on Montessori's philosophy and her multi-sensory approach to learning, PAMBE will employ additive bilingual method, the goal of which is to develop children who are both bilingual and biliterate in English and in their mother tongue. While they are preparing to enter the wider society where English is required for economic success, they will also, through their native language, acquire mastery and understanding of their rich cultural heritage -- the history, stories, customs, music, dance, and arts of their ancestors.

PAMBE is in its infancy. Like a new house, the frame is in place, but the walls, roof, and interior wait to be done. I welcome assistance from anyone who has successfully developed a similar model. The children of northern Ghana need a new educational home.