Deen Foundation

Children in rural basic schools in the Ashanti region are struggling to gain basic literacy and numeracy skills due to teacher shortage and lack of educational resources. Unfortunately, this impact was strongly felt in other basic education sectors throughout Ghana when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. As the learning gap kept growing, the DEEN Foundation decided to research ways to improve quality education and support a small community by introducing STEAM and Technology education into the daily activities of the children and teachers in the Basic Education Sector. 

In 2020, Jackson College of Education (JCE), Partner of DEEN Foundation led the Teaching of volunteers and teachers in the small community. The Jackson College of Education is one of the world’s private leading Distance Learning Teacher Training Colleges in Ghana. The college of Education currently operates in 10 regions with 24 centers and serves more than 5,000 students through a 4-year Bachelor of Education Programme, a 2-year Top-Up ( Post Diploma) to Bachelor of Education Programme and a 3-year non-terminal Diploma in Basic Education by Distance Learning. JCE mission is to assist our students to acquire hope for a brighter future. With that drive since inception, JCE has been dedicated to providing quality, result-oriented teacher education, producing graduates who are well-equipped, inspired, and poised to find solutions to challenges confronting basic education delivery in the country and beyond.

The TOT training includes a 14 weeks hybrid ICT course; The tutors taught from the head office, whilst the students with their facilitators met face to face in their various centers. This course was added to the original professional course to become a teacher and was accessed during their on-campus teaching practice with basic schools, they are made to reflect on their practices on what they did right or wrong. The feedback from the public school’s management was a note in the right direction. This is to evaluate the impacts of teacher inservice professional development on quality education and bridging the learning gaps. 

STEAM training was organised for young children during the COVID lockdown to learn computing with ART and culture. This was both virtual for 4 weeks training and 2 weeks peer to peer portfolio development with the tutor and other students from University of Michigan STAMPS School. We used a strategy of engaging parents from the onset of the training to maximize the success. Parents were sent emails and invitations to CPDs on the importance of STEAM and Technology to their ward and how they can assist them during the online training during the COVID season. This was to increase their involvement in their child’s education and serve as a check for them at home. This was to evaluate the question on what are the impacts of integrating STEAM-based activities and parental-awareness  on quality education and bridging the learning gaps

This second phase of the project started early 2022 and it’s to move the STEAM and Technology Education into the classroom since students are returning to in-person learning by first piloting with 5 rural public schools in the Ashanti Region. Through our involvement with these schools, we notice that access to computers or a smart device will be our major challenge with technology and STEAM education. Since the majority of the community households do not have access to technology, electricity and, or internet, they will have to depend on the schools to provide them with such tools for practice.

We are currently working on a design for solar powered tablets that will be cost effective and sustainable to use for teaching and learning.

Activities in pipeline:

• Develop a Classroom based curriculum for STEAM-related activities with teachers.

• Get Volunteers from the community as teachers for In-service professional development.

• Plan activities that will involve both schools, parents and the community

• We worked with the school authorities and parents at the basic school to reconstruct and refurnish the school during our survey and research stage.

• The 9-community youth volunteered to assist in the teaching of students in the Kwayemu and received scholarship to study at Jackson College of Education

• Organise  continuous professional development (CPDs) programmes  during Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) to increase parental Literacy on Early childhood Education and elicit parental engagement.

• Design and assemble  a sustainable solar powered tablets for teaching and learning in the classroom

Bridging learning gaps for underserved children ages 5- 12 would be enhanced through integrating STEAM-based activities into young children’s lesson plan and regular school curriculum (measured through child’s literacy and numeracy skills); regular In-service teacher professional development (measured through teachers’ levels of performance, job satisfaction and teacher-child interactions); and Improved parental-awareness meetings (measured through parent-teacher communication). 

We fund and supply technologies to Jackson Institute of Technology and the Jackson Institute of Innovation and leadership during STEAM training, STEM CPDs, workshops on technology and Social Outreach to rural communities.

Our current study is going to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of teacher inservice professional development paired with both integrating STEAM-based activities and parental-awareness  on quality education and bridging the learning gaps of children in the classroom.

By the number of basic school students who can read and write, the number of students who have access to technology and can use it after the programme and the number of class attendees and supply of tablets.

The Project is to improve reading, writing, numeracy and the use of technology for at least 40% of underserved children ages 5- 12.

 Excelling academically  is a prerogative of all but opportunity is not equal for all. This adage is reflected in rural communities who are severely underserved in Educational and basic amenities yet we expect the young ones of those communities to rub shoulders with their urban counterparts in standardised examinations. The project is to bridge the gap in learning caused by the severe lack and introduce STEAM courses to the students to bolster their skills, improve their reading  and numeracy skills.

* The central research question we would want the LEAP fellows to contribute is;  What are the effects of integrating STEAM-based activities and parental awareness in education for the underprivileged and the underserved?

* The Deliverables of the project will be knowledgeable STEAM trainers/volunteers, a working STEAM-Based curriculum and parent collaborators which will be useful for DEEN foundation and its partners who are training service providers.

* DEEN's goal by 2027, is to reach over 5,000 young children, within the 16 regions of Ghana with the STEAM-based curriculum. Hosting and successfully completing this LEAP project will give us the best experience, resources and capacity in fulfilling this goal.