The Akrofoum D/A Basic school was established in 1947. The school was upgraded in 1987 to include a Junior High School (JHS). The school as at 2018, had 489 children enrolled with 70 pupils in Kindergarten (KG), 317 in Primary and 102 in JHS.
In this video, Isaac Baido, one of the teachers at the KG and a member of the Community Child Protection Committee (CCPC) in Akrofoum, and Emmanuel Ampong Sumang, the Headteacher of the school, tell us how their damaged KG block was rebuilt, with support from ICI, after it was knocked down by a storm in early 2019. ICI worked with the community of Akrofoum as part of its Community Development Programme (learn more about this here).
Supporting communities like Akrofoum develop their educational facilities is an important part of ICI’s work to tackle child labour. Research conducted by ICI indicates that the quality of education, as well as access, is important to protecting children. As shown in the video, the renovation had an important impact as enrollment in the Kindergarten increased. The block in particular holds special importance for the community as it was initially constructed with funds raised by the teachers in the 1990s. This initiative was led by the then headteacher who encouraged the teachers to do this as a legacy for the school.