Cause for Celebration: WASSCE Examinations 2025

The news that reached us from Ghana at the beginning of March gave us every reason to celebrate — and fills us with great pride. After several months of grading, the West African Examinations Council finally released the results of last year’s final examinations. Our students from the Tiehisuma School achieved truly impressive results.

In all four subjects — English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies — more than 90% of the exams were passed. In addition, more than two thirds of the participants achieved grades of C6 or better (roughly comparable to a grade of 3 in the German system), qualifying them for direct admission to tertiary educational institutions. One student even achieved the top grade, A.

These results alone are remarkable. However, considering the often difficult backgrounds of many of our students — many had previously dropped out of school or had already failed these examinations once before — it becomes even clearer how much determination they invested in making the most of this second chance.

We are incredibly proud of what they have accomplished. At the same time, these results show that the continuous development of our program is paying off. For the first time, educational videos were integrated into classroom teaching, and the students responded very positively to this approach. It clearly contributed to their success, and we hope to expand this concept further in the future.

These achievements would not have been possible without the support of our donors. Registration for the final examinations involves considerable fees. We therefore extend our special thanks to the “Kinderhilfswerk” of the Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Gymnasium as well as the Danubius Foundation.

We would also like to sincerely thank all our other supporters. Your contributions create opportunities for young people in Saguli to pursue new educational paths — and with them, real prospects for the future.

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New school year in Taha – starting signal for hybrid lessons

At the beginning of October, the school bells rang again at our remedial school in Taha and Alhassan Salifu, the director of the Northern Educational Alliance (NEA), welcomed a new class to the school.

This is already the third cohort to be taught English, maths and science at the school, in order to prepare for repeating the Ghanaian WASSCE final examinations. However, there have been two important changes since this year.

The most significant change is the introduction of a hybrid teaching concept. With the help of instructional videos produced by the Ghanaian education service, conventional lessons are being supplemented. These videos not only impart specialised knowledge, but also promote pupils’ digital skills.

A major advantage of this concept is that the subject of social studies can also be taught this year. We would like to thank all of our supporters. Special thanks go to the Georg Kraus Foundation, which has supported the hybrid lessons with a generous donation.

Another advantage of hybrid teaching is that in future it will be possible to teach up to two additional classes at the same time instead of just one. However, in order to provide space for so many pupils, our school building needs to be extended. We hope to be able to start work on the extension at the beginning of next year.

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Inspiring visit: Christoph Wenzl shares insights at Miltach primary school

The primary school pupils at Miltach Primary School recently experienced a special day when Christoph Wenzl, the chairman of the Taha School Project, visited their school. This visit was the culmination of an impressive fundraising campaign: the children had donated €777 from the proceeds of a flea market to the Taha School Project. As a thank you, Wenzl came to the school in person to tell the them about his commitment in Ghana and to show them how their generous donation can change the lives of children in Africa.

In front of the eager eyes of the fourth-graders, Christoph Wenzl took the opportunity to talk not only about the Taha school project, but also about life in Ghana. The children were taken into a fascinating world where they were given an insight into the culture, geography and cuisine of the West African country. Christoph Wenzl’s report on school life in Ghana was particularly exciting and the children turned it into a lively discussion with lots of interested questions.

In the second part of the presentation, Christoph Wenzl explained the work of the Taha school project and what the donations from Miltach primary school will be used for in the coming year. The plan is to extend the existing school in Ghana by two classrooms, which will enable more young people to take part in the existing teaching programme there. The primary school pupils were thus able to experience first-hand how their joint efforts can have a far-reaching positive impact.

Christoph Wenzl’s visit to Miltach Primary School was undoubtedly an inspiring experience for the pupils. Our Chairman, in turn, was delighted to pass on his knowledge of Ghana to the children and introduce them to life in another part of the world.

Christoph Wenzl shows a Smok, the traditional clothing in the North of Ghana

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school visit

For one and a half years our school has been standing now, but no member of our association from Germany has ever visited it. But in May of this year the time had finally come: Our board member, Christoph Wenzl, set off on a project trip lasting several weeks. Among many other activities on the agenda, such as meetings with local authorities or government representatives, another one was at the top: visiting the school.

It was an indescribable feeling for Christoph when he proudly entered the school for the first time. The assembled students were initially curious about the unknown guest. But after our Ghanaian partner, Alhassan Salifu, introduced his German colleague, he was greeted with thunderous applause. The students expressed several times how grateful they are to the association and all supporters.

The teachers were also happy to get to know the guest from Germany and thanked them several times for the commitment of the Taha School project. They spoke of an incomparable project. Because the remedial classes in Taha give the students a second chance in life that they would never have gotten otherwise.

Most of them come from difficult backgrounds. Christoph Wenzl was able to convince himself of this when some of the students told him their stories: Many have lost one or both parents, the majority had problems at school and poverty is omnipresent. Added to this is the poor quality of teaching in many schools, which is why it is often no wonder that young people fail the final exams.

With the remedial classes they now have the chance to catch up and repeat the exams. Then they can study and learn a profession with a secure income. During his visit, Christoph also asked the young men and women about their career aspirations. The answers were very diverse: nutritionist, nurse, teacher. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see an alumnus back at the school in Taha, but this time as a teacher.

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Review on a successful year and big drive: this was the annual general meeting 2021

Because of the ongoing corona pandemic, the annual general meeting had to take place online like in the last year. That’s why the members followed the review, which the chairman, Christoph Wenzl, gave on the last year, in front of their screens at home. The year 2021 went very positive in many ways for our association. The chairman was especially happy about the beginning of the classes in the newly built school in Ghana. For the first time 33 youths received education in math, English and science.
Most of the students in Ghana have problems in those core subjects and the free education at the new school in Taha provides them with the opportunity to prepare themselves intensively for their final exams which took place in December. Even the results are not out yet, the teachers were very content with the performance of the scholars and praised the association’s initiative which gives the young people an unprecedented chance. Unterricht in Taha

To this also the Danubius foundation contributed substantially since it took care for the examination fees for all the 33 students. Also in Germany the association was very successful and could raise donations at charity concerts and through talks as well as promote its work.

A special highlight of the meeting was a video call with the representative of the Ghanaian partner organization, Alhassan Salifu. The members used this opportunity to ask questions about the running of the school and the current situation in Ghana in general. Alhassan, too, was pleased about this exchange and thanked them for the good collaboration.

The goal of this year is to build on the successful work and to continue the education. All interested supporters can foster this with a scholarship. Beyond that the school should be extended for two more classrooms because of the active demand.

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Generous donation enables purchase of important school materials

Following a field visit to the school in May, where the director of Northern Educational Alliance (NEA), Mr Alhassan Salifu interacted with both the students and the staff of the school, he identified several challenges. Most of them were related to the lack of materials. With the generous support of donators in Germany, namely the Joseph-von-Fraunhofer Gymnasium (JvFG) Cham, the following items worth of 8,105 Ghc were bought which will significantly improve the quality of teaching and learning.

Marker board
The marker board which was in use so far was very small of size. This caused big delays in the lessons since the teachers had to wait for the students to copy the content of the board before they could clean it and continue with writing. With the money a new full class size White Marker Board could be purchased which will help the teachers with making sketches on the board and enable unobstructed, faster lessons.

Exercise Books/Note Books
This was described by one of the masters as an eyesore and very pathetic during class. Most of the students were not having note books to write neither were they having exercise books. What they used instead was either one book serving the same purpose or loose pieces of papers. It is obvious that this is not healthy academic practice and that’s why in total 90 note/exercise books were bought for the students to take notes during classes and to do their homework in.

Selected Litrature Books
The English master drew the attention to one aspect of the english syllabus which required the reading and studying of selected litrature books for the final English WASSCE paper. Failure to read this books highly reduces the chances of passing the English paper since the questions on them constitute a greater marks in the exams. That’s why in total 90 literature books by three different authors were purchased and allocated to the students.

 

The NEA wishes to show its profound gratitude for the support given toward the purchase of the mentioned materials to assist the students at the NEA Remedial Classes Centre. This support will have a huge impact on the pending WAEC exams. The students were very happy after receiving these items and equally wish to express their gratitude. The Taha-School-Project especially thanks the JvFG Cham because without its support the quick enforcement of this method could have not been possible. We hope that the materials will be put to the best use.

 

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