Our work in Ghana began in 2004 as part of a local after school program in Accra. Though we've attempted to penetrate and affect change in Ghanaian classrooms, we have found that after school gives us an opportunity to directly reach students - its grassroots African development at its finest. We teach the kids to be problem solvers and teachers themselves so they can scale and sustain change after we leave.

From 2pm to 5pm every school day, TOB staffers, fellows, interns, and volunteers spend quality time with kindergarten to middle school students in our 3,000 square foot resource room on the beach. Typically we attract 30-40 primary students and 5-10 peer tutors from the junior secondary school. We are actively building enrollment of primary students and peer tutors in partnership with the school and the community.

The key components of our After School mirror those of after school programs in the US...

1. Promoting academic achievement - reading & math 
2. Access to computers, sports, arts, music etc.
3. Building social and emotional skills
4. Encouraging community service

Whether or not you've personally been in an after school program as a facilitator/mentor or as a participant in your youth, it is easy to see why filling disadvantaged students' out of school time with productive and positive activities is vital to closing the achievement gap.

The key difference between our program and US models is our focus on peer tutoring. Teach on the Beach Scholars insecondary school as well as junior secondary school (JSS) recruits are expected to teach primary students basic English and Math and to assist them with their homework. Srong commitment to tutoring in this program is part of the Scholars community service requirement and aids JSS recruits from gaining a scholarship to senior secondary school.

The reason we require and incentivize students to peer tutor is simply because we are foreigners and cannot be held responsible for Ghana. Our students are Ghanaians and we want to promote civic duty in them while instilling the value of teaching and learning. "The future of Africa, is up to Africans" President Barack Obama

In the summer of 2011 we began a process to quantitatively measure the progress of our After School students. Updates and results of our work will be posted on the website for all to track very soon.