Titagya Schools is a non-profit organization that promotes interactive
early childhood education
Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is up to the equivale ...
in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
's three northernmost regions: the
Northern Region,
Upper East Region
The Upper East Region is located in north Ghana and is the third smallest of the 16 administrative regions in Ghana. It occupies a total land surface of 8,842 square kilometers or 2.7 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. The Upper East regi ...
and
Upper West Region
The Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East region to the east, Northern region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north. The Upper West regional capital and largest set ...
. Titagya Schools was founded in 2008 by Abukari Abdul-Fatawu, Manzah Iddi Habib and Andrew Garza to address northern Ghana's rural adult literacy rate of 22%.
In November 2009, Titagya opened a pre-school for 50 children in Dalun, in the
of Ghana. 60% of teaching at the school takes place in English, 40% in
Dagbani
Dagbani (or Dagbane), also known as Dagbanli and Dagbanle, is a Gur language spoken in Ghana and Northern Togo. Its native speakers are estimated around 3,160,000. It is a compulsory subject in primary and junior high school in the Dagbon Kingdo ...
.
Pedagogy
Titagya's pedagogical approach is derived to a significant extent from the
Reggio Emilia approach
The Reggio Emilia approach is an educational philosophy and pedagogy focused on preschool and primary education. This approach is a student-centered and constructivist self-guided curriculum that uses self-directed, experiential learning in rela ...
. Titagya partners with the government of Ghana and other institutions to reduce the role of
rote learning
Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition. The method rests on the premise that the recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning, as ...
in early education in Ghana, while increasing the role of small group activities, storytime and other activities that encourage critical thinking and social and emotional development.
References
{{Portal bar, Africa, Education, Society
Education in Ghana
Early childhood education
Northern Region (Ghana)
Upper East Region
Upper West Region
Non-profit organisations based in Ghana
Organizations established in 2008