Greetings from Bawku, Ghana. I teach chemistry, general science, and math to students at Bawku Secondary School (known as "Bawsco"). Bawsco is a co-ed boarding school that serves about 1,200 students in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The school is about three kilometers from Bawku, bordering on Burkina Faso and Togo. The official language is English.

What teens in the U.S. should know about teens in Ghana
Being able to attend school in Ghana is much more difficult than in the United States. Since most families in Ghana farm for a living, school can be a low priority during peak farming seasons. Many children help their parents on the farm, and some do not go to school past the elementary level. Girls, in particular, rarely have opportunities for higher levels of learning. A typical class at Bawsco would have 50 students, only seven of whom were girls.

Once in school, exams are a constant source of pressure for students. Students must pass a set of exams to progress to junior high and then on to high school. As a result, they are very focused on exam topic areas. As a teacher, I often found it