The country of Ghana in West Africa is a resource-rich nation — oil and gas, gold, and diamonds. And yet, 20% of the approximately 25 million people there live in extreme poverty.
It’s also a very young country: 51% of the population is under 18 years of age, and in a country where only 33% of children enrol in secondary school, there’s a lot to be done. A good education is essential in the fight against poverty — poverty causes many young people to drop out of school; without an education, they are forced to make a subsistence living in in whatever way they can. When they have children of their own, the cycle of poverty continues.
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There are a number of barriers to an education, especially in the rural Volta region. Lack of early childhood education, few qualified teachers, and a scarcity of books and learning materials stand in the way of proper schooling. There are schools, but often they are in rough shape and shared between communities, which means students often have to walk distances to attend, or they lack programs for preschoolers to transition to primary school.