The British High Commissioner, Dr Nick Wescott, as part of an official visit to Volta region for the annual Asogli Yam festival attended a durbar for five schools in the Ketu South district that are part of the British Council managed Department for International Development (DFID) Global School Partnership (DGSP).  

For over ten years the DFID Global School Partnership (DGSP) programme has been running in Ghana. DGSP is one of the projects managed by the British Council to promote partnerships between schools in the UK and schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

This programme provides guidance, advice and professional development opportunities for partner schools and is aimed at raising young peoples' awareness of global development issues and equips them with the skills and knowledge to become active global citizens. It offers an exciting and effective way of providing learners a clear understanding and knowledge of the world.

The schools in Denu namely, St Anthony’s Primary School, Adafienu Amalgamated Primary School, L’ecole Internationale La Decourvete, Great Royal International and Hatsukope Basic School organised a mini durbar in honour of Dr Nick Westcott, as his first visit to Denu.

The durbar was chaired by Mama Ayaba II of Adafienu and was attended by over ten chiefs and queen mothers of the surrounding villages and some district education officers including the District Director of Education and the Deputy District Coordinating Director.

In her address, Ms Peace Carbonu, Head teacher and Co-ordinator, St Anthony’s Primary School spoke about the benefits her school had gained since joining the partnerships and hoped that more schools will join. She was happy about the High Commissioners visit since his visit to them meant that the whole of the UK being brought to their door step.

Dr Nick Westcott thanked the headteachers, teachers, Co-ordinators and especially the students for the warm welcome they gave him in the form of beautiful cultural displays. He said that the DGSP programme is all about building connections and exchanging knowledge with people; people in Ghana, meeting and partnering people in Ghana on one hand and also people from Ghana meeting and partnering people in the UK. In this way they are able to exchange their cultures. He also said that the partnerships programme served as a learning ground for teachers and students in Ghana and their counterparts in the UK. For instance schools in Ghana taught their UK counterparts how to weave kente, process salt and so on and the UK schools will in turn teach Ghanaian schools to write good English, how to use the internet and to use new ways of teaching to learn better.

He further explained that the British government is supporting the partnerships programme because they share a commitment with the people and government of Ghana, to develop the people, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to enable all students to benefit from education, healthcare and to be able to develop their own capacities and have a jobs that will benefit their families and the whole community.

The British government also shares a commitment to democracy and justice. One other reason the High Commissioner gave for the British governments continuous support of the project is that they believe the money would be put to good use by the various schools.

As part of the activities for the mini durbar, there was an exhibition of the finished products from the projects that these schools were engaged in.

Pictures of the various visits that were made both the Ghanaian and UK schools were displayed. The most interesting of the exhibition was the demonstration of the kente weaving process by two students from the St Anthony’s Primary school. A kente sash and plaque were presented to the High Commissioner to show appreciation for his visit.