FAITH-INSPIRED EDUCATION IN GHANA: A HISTORICAL CASE EXAMPLE

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Notes

1. The authors are with the University of Cape Town and The World Bank. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors only and need not represent those of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.

2. Berman (1974) estimates that by 1950, missionary schools accounted for 97 percent of total enrolment in Ghana.

3. We do not discuss here other kinds of “informal” education systems predating colonization, such as traditional African educational practices.

4. For example, the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) established a project to build schools and supply various textbooks necessary to improve the education of the girl child. The local chapter of the Federation of African Women Educationist (FAWE) has also been very active in this awareness creation in the form of the TV clip Send your Girl-child to School by the Ghana Chapter of FAWE. And the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), in collaboration with the Swedish Teachers Federation, is supplying furniture to schools all over the country to increase enrolment of the girl child in schools in Muslim communities (Boyle et al. 2007).

Additional information

Jill Olivier is a Lecturer at the University of Cape Town in the Health Policy and Systems Division. She is the Research Director for the International Religious Health Assets Program, and has operated as a researcher and research manager in Southern, Western, and Central Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and the USA. Dr Olivier's current research foci are health systems research; the interface of religion and public health; interdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration; and community engagement.

Quentin Wodon is an adviser in the Education Department of the Human Development Network at the World Bank, where he serves as cluster leader for equity, resilience, and early childhood development. Previously, he managed the Bank's unit working on faith and development, served as Lead Poverty Specialist for West and Central Africa, and as Economist/Senior Economist in the Latin America region. Author of more than 300 books and articles, Dr Wodon holds graduate degrees in business engineering, economics, and philosophy, and PhDs in Economics and in Theology and Religious Studies.