Management of Teach for Ghana (TFG), an NGO, has officially inducted 33 newly recruited 2019 fellows into the Teach For Ghana Leadership Development Programme.

The event, which kicks-off a five-week pre-service workshop, aimed at equipping the fellows with skills in pedagogy, classroom management, setting classroom culture, engaging with children, and leadership in the classroom.

Mr Daniel Dotse, the Chief Executive Officer of TFG, speaking at the event held at the Ashesi University College said Teach For Ghana, was a movement of solution-driven leaders expanding educational opportunity to all children in Ghana.

He said the programme was annually, recruiting Ghana’s best and brightest recent university graduates and young professionals from varied academic backgrounds, giving them intensive teaching and leadership training, and posting them to underserved communities as full-time teachers.

He said the fellows would teach subjects including Science, Mathematics, Information Communication Technology, and English for two years.

The fellows would be deployed to teach underserved communities in the Western and Northern Regions as full-time teachers for two years.

“After completing the two-year commitment, fellows become members of the Teach for Ghana Alumni Network, an active group of young Ghanaian leaders, across sectors and industries, building on the transformative classroom teaching experience to bring about systemic change in Ghana’s education sector,” he added.

The CEO said in the highly selective programme, 33 fellows were accepted this year from a pool of over 633 applications received from Ashesi University, University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University for Development Studies, University of Cape Coast, and others.

He said “Probably, in the next two years, we will want to get into probably 60 to 100 schools,” he added.

Mr Dotse congratulated the newly recruited fellows for making it into the programme.

He expressed concern over the high number of children in Ghana, who drop out of school before Senior High School and were unable to access tertiary education.

He explained to the fellows that it was unjust for the socio-economic background and geographical location of children living in the country to ultimately determine their life outcomes.

He urged the fellows to develop the mindset that every child in Ghana could and should have the opportunity to gain access to quality education and acknowledged the bold step the fellows have taken to join the fellowship.

He encouraged the recruits that even though their two-year journey in the deprived communities would be challenging, it would be fulfilling and rewarding in the end.

He commended partners for their constant support to the vision and mission of Teach For Ghana in helping to raise leaders, who would work to make sure that one day all children in Ghana would have the opportunity to attain a quality education.

Mr Lambert Akwa, a Representative from ZEN Petroleum, urged the fellows to be committed to serving the children and the communities they would be placed in as teachers and leaders.

He asked the fellows to make all efforts to inspire creativity and aspiration in the children they teach while serving in the deprived communities as teachers, adding that, “while change is hard in the beginning, it is beautiful at the end.”

Ms Lucky Adeline Aanomah, a Fellow, told the Ghana News Agency that the training was extremely useful.

She said the Fellows were ready to take the bold step in supporting the delivery of quality education in the country.

She said as a young leader, it was a stepping stone to develop her leadership potentials.