We have reached an academic milestone; the ten charter residents of House of Grace-Ghana have either completed or are currently attending Senior High School. According to an article by UNICEF about Ghana, the poorest girls from rural areas attain about four years of schooling compared to 13 years for girls from affluent homes in urban areas. God rescued ten girls from the poorest areas of northern Ghana. With your financial support, our girls are now competing academically with children from the most affluent families in the country. The girls at House of Grace attend Trinity Foundation School for Nursery, Kindergarten, Primary, and Junior High. They have the opportunity for thirteen years of education before qualifying for senior high boarding school. In Ghana, you must take a test after the ninth grade to be eligible for senior high and determine the school you will attend.
Under the current system, the students with the highest scores attend A-level schools. The school grading system is from A to D. In the Education Act of 1987, the established schools throughout Ghana were turned into national schools and follow the same curriculum. However, only eight percent of the schools are ranked A. These schools have the best facilities, resources, and teachers. Ranking criteria include the number of students allowed in a classroom, sanitation facilities, trained teachers, and access to resources such as labs, computers, and textbooks. All original girls from House of Grace-Ghana attend A or B-level schools. We are proud of their accomplishment and are working to support the staff and schools they currently attend.
Global Servants is blessed with supporters that pay attention to the complicated interaction between social, economic, and political factors involved in empowering an individual. The idea to improve state-run facilities helps all marginalized people while supporting our girls. Three girls from House of Grace attend St. Monica’s Senior High School. Global Servants built a mechanized well, water tower, and campus-wide irrigation system. Before the well, the water at the school was rationed, and bathrooms were periodically locked because they were non-functioning. St. Monica’s High School has an enrollment of 2,500 girls, and all know that a Christian organization supplied the well and irrigation system. At FOSO College of Education in Assin Foso, Ghana, we built a public restroom with four private lockable stalls, each including a toilet and sink. Because of an existing mechanized well, we could build restrooms accessible for both genders. We hope the girls that plan to become teachers will attend FOSO after their high school graduation.
In 2017 the Ghanaian government passed the Free Senior High School policy. We are proud to work alongside the governments of Ghana and Thailand. Our homes serve as role models for children’s homes within their perspective governments. The idea of a free school in Ghana is noble, and the intent is admirable. In 2021, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, told Parliament that student enrollment at the SHS level had increased from 881,600 in 2016 to 1,261,125 in 2021. Even with free school, some expenses make high school unattainable for some. After your acceptance into the school, you must have a physical from your primary doctor and an eye exam to attend. Almost all senior high schools in Ghana are based on the British model and are boarding schools. Therefore, you must bring everything you will need for your dorm room. All schools require uniforms; the material is printed with the school logos and must be custom-made for the individual. You declare a course of study when you enter the tenth grade. You will use the same textbooks for three years and must purchase the entire set within 30 days of school enrollment. Depending on your study path, you will require practical items to use in a lab setting. For example, The Home Economics Department list has 47 items with a purchase price of approximately 350.00 USD. The school provides all meals but encourages students to bring supplemental nutrition. With all of the initial fees and start-up costs, a free school is actually accessible only to those that can afford it.
All of our senior high girls have sponsors that cover the cost of their time at House of Grace-Ghana and their school fees for Trinity Foundation School. Because of the generous donations from our Empowering Esther Team, everything our girls needed for senior high school was readily available. Each girl has a roll-up mattress in addition to her dormitory bunk. They had the sheets, towels, blankets, hygiene items, and everything it took to set up a room away from home. The donations through the Empowering Esther Team are designated for girls at either House of Grace. We are grateful for individuals that donate without one particular girl in mind. The girls are the most grateful. Most have friends from their home villages who cannot attend school because of financial hardship. Each girl knows the financial commitment their sponsor family and the Empowering Esther Team members made to make way for them.
The girls at House of Grace can afford to attend high school; because of the faithfulness of our supporters to give without knowing the need. Our girls can genuinely act as daughters of the King. They can draw from their Heavenly Father’s finances and cover the cost when a need arises. The staff in Ghana and Thailand can make financial decisions with funds already available. We are grateful for your trust and obedience to God’s call, which allows the nationals of the country we serve to identify the need and financially meet it.
Fay Inman
is the Advocacy Coordinator at Global Servants. With over 30 years of experience as an advocate nationally for girls. Fay has been married to Kenny for over thirty years, and they have two daughters: Kennedy, Gussy and grand-baby Ophelia Fay.
