ARCD and Al Ahlul Quran Center Take on Ghana's Secondary School Gap
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At ARCD's Ahlul Quran Educational Center in Gomoa Fetteh Mamfam, 291 children study in classrooms that run from KG1 through Basic 6. But when young people in this community of thousands in Ghana's Gomoa East District reach the end of junior high, their path forward narrows sharply, because there is no senior high school in Mamfam. For families, continuing means sending a teenager to school in another community, with the travel, accommodation or relocation that comes with it.
Africa Relief and Community Development (ARCD) is planning a senior high school in Mamfam, subject to funding and consultation with the district education authorities.
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Why Mamfam Needs a Senior High School
A senior high school in Mamfam would mean a student's education no longer depends on whether the family can manage a move or a long daily trip. The planned building has three classrooms, a teachers' room, a principal's office and separate latrines for girls and boys. This phase covers the school block and the furniture needed to open it to students.
Every gift helps move the project closer to opening. One contribution may help furnish a classroom, while another helps fund the structure itself. Together, those gifts create a school students can actually use.
What Students and Families in Mamfam Face Today
For a Mamfam teenager, finishing junior high should be a proud moment. Instead, it often comes with a family conversation about whether the next school is simply too far away. Parents who have watched their children learn to read and write at the local school are left hoping the journey ahead does not end it.
The problem is not unique to one village. The Gomoa East District Assembly's 2026 budget counts only 7 senior high schools in the entire district and says its educational facilities are neither evenly nor equitably distributed. UNICEF Ghana's 2025 Annual Report also shows that children in Ghana become more likely to drop out as they move up through school.
A school inside the community changes that calculation. Students can keep studying without leaving their community, and families can support them without the cost and strain of long-distance schooling. For parents, the question shifts from whether their child can continue to what they will study.
Inside the Ahlul Quran Educational Center
ARCD designed the Ahlul Quran project as a comprehensive community development initiative rather than a single building. Its aim is to meet several connected needs through one phased intervention: accessible education from kindergarten through junior and senior high, clean water, healthcare, religious life, and infrastructure the community can rely on for years. Each facility on the campus was built to answer one of those needs.
The mosque and the artesian water well came first, and both were in daily use soon after completion. The elementary school followed, with 10 classrooms where the center's youngest learners now study. The basic schooling the project set out to provide is now available in the heart of the community.
Two parts of the campus are still waiting to reach their full purpose. A two-classroom vocational block with an administration wing was completed in April 2024 but has not yet been brought into use, so the vocational training it was built for has not started. The campus also had a clinic building, but as the school grew it was repurposed for classrooms, leaving the community still without a clinic of its own.
What the Next Phase Needs
The gap Mamfam faces reflects the wider district. The Gomoa East District Assembly's 2026 budget counts only 7 senior high schools in the entire district and says its educational facilities are neither evenly nor equitably distributed. The next phase at Ahlul Quran is ARCD's answer for this community, with a senior high school as the priority.
A Senior High School for Mamfam
The school block will have three classrooms, a teachers' room, a principal's office and separate latrines for girls and boys. Furniture is funded alongside it, so the building can open as a working school the day construction ends. Together, these two items are the heart of this appeal.
A Safe Boundary Around the Campus
The campus sits in the center of the community, close to a road that exposes students to the risk of accidents. A perimeter fence would give the school a secure boundary for children of every age, from kindergarten pupils to future senior high students. It would also protect the buildings donors have already helped put in place.
A Clinic the Community Can Reach
ARCD is also working toward improving access to healthcare in Mamfam. The next phase may involve constructing a new clinic on land allocated by the Chief or supporting the completion and equipping of a clinic currently being built for the community.
How ARCD Supports Education Across Africa
ARCD has built over 150 educational centers across 32 African countries since 2019, according to its education program page. Its education program builds and renovates schools, funds scholarships that cover fees, uniforms, exams and transport, and delivers school supplies directly to students. The Ahlul Quran Educational Center brings that approach together on one campus, where a child can study, drink clean water and gather with the community.
>> Support the next school in Mamfam and help a campus where children are already learning grow with them.
FAQs
1. What will the new school building include?
Each of the three classrooms is designed at 67 square meters, with a 50 square meter teachers' room and a 24 square meter principal's room. Separate latrines give girls and boys private, dignified facilities. The layout is sized for a working senior high school rather than a temporary space.
2. Why is furniture funded at the same time as the building?
A classroom cannot open without furniture for students and teachers. Funding both together means the school can welcome students as soon as construction is complete. It avoids a finished building standing empty while the rest of the money is raised.
3. Who teaches at the Ahlul Quran Educational Center today?
The teaching staff includes both Ghana Education Service teachers and volunteers. They teach the children in the elementary classrooms now. A senior high school would give those same students somewhere to continue without leaving the campus.
4. How is the school being planned with local authorities?
ARCD is working with the Gomoa East District Education Directorate on the school's location, and the building is planned to meet Ghana Education Service standards. Planning with the district helps the new school fit into the local education system. That coordination is part of building something that lasts.
5. Who is ARCD working with on this project?
ARCD Ghana leads the work alongside the Gomoa East District Assembly, the district's Education and Health Directorates, the Ghana Education Service and the Islamic Education Unit. Community leaders, including the Chief, are partners, as are the school's management, parents, the PTA and local residents. That involvement builds local ownership and supports the school's long-term use.
6. What is the Islamic Education Unit?
The Islamic Education Unit is a public body under the Ghana Education Service. A 2025 paper in the University of Ghana's Ghana Journal of Religion and Theology describes it as mandated to combine secular and Islamic learning within the public education system. Its involvement connects the Ahlul Quran school to that national framework.
7. Are schools in Gomoa East crowded?
Many are. The district Assembly reports average class sizes of 50 in kindergarten and junior high, against a standard of 35. Crowding is a district-wide challenge, which is why every new classroom in Gomoa East matters.
8. Why build a school instead of paying for transport or scholarships?
Scholarships and transport help individual students, and ARCD funds scholarships through its wider education work. A school inside the community helps every student who comes after them, year after year. For Mamfam, it removes the distance barrier rather than paying to cross it.
