Our history
Yaarah Schools is a small, independent UK charity dedicated to building schools in remote villages in Ghana. Established in 2009 by Maire Tejani MBE, the charity is run entirely by volunteers.
On a visit to her home country, Ghana, in 2009, Maire noticed that children and adults in remote villages did not have adequate education facilities or learning equipment. Maire grew up in the city and while travelling during this particular visit she became more aware of the educational inequalities. There are no school buildings in some parts of the country and children are being taught under trees or outside without proper shelter.
According to Ghanaian national figures around 4000 primary schools outside of the cities are in the open or under trees and an additional 3500 primary schools are in temporary structures. It was estimated that it could take up to 25 years for the authorities to build adequate classrooms.
Children committed to their education
After witnessing firsthand how committed these children are to their education, often walking miles with books and chairs, only to have classes cancelled due to rain, Maire felt compelled to start up Yaarah Schools to provide a learning lifeline for the community. Her tireless dedication to build schools in these rural areas means that children and adults can receive the best possible education whatever the weather.
We are a unique charity. The majority of organisations working in rural Ghana focus on the quality of education provision. Very few focus on physically building schools, as we do, and working in partnership with the local community and authorities.
Community-led work
Yaarah schools works collaboratively with local people and the building of schools is a partnership with the community. Our role in this partnership is to provide the materials for the buildings and to coordinate the building works and installation of infrastructure such as electricity and running water. This is achieved in liaison with local villagers, village chiefs and community leaders, the district education director and district engineers.
All materials and contractors are sourced locally and the building of the schools and subsequent use of the buildings is managed by the local people, utilising the labouring skills within the community.
Trained teachers are supplied and paid for by local and central Government. Yaarah Schools supplies the stationery and equipment and we are currently working with the charity, School in a Bag, to provide each child with a fully equipped school bag.
Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out a child’s right to education and richer countries’ duty to help poorer countries to achieve this. The Ghanaian government recognises the importance of education and are tackling a number of issues, including the education of children in remote regions. They provide the teaching staff in Yaarah Schools, and have recently announced a 20% pay award for teachers in rural areas.