By Mya Trujillo
Prince Anthony Bart-Appiah, a royal from Ghana’s Akwamu Traditional Family, is on a mission to close his country’s wide education gap, as more than 5,400 schools there operate under trees or in makeshift structures — unstable conditions that can diminish the quality of learning.
To achieve his goal, Bart-Appiah is partnering with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) through the Every Child Deserves a Classroom. Expected to launch in March, the initiative encourages those within the African diaspora looking to connect with the motherland to explore their heritage by visiting Ghana, and to give back to the community by adopting trees and helping build schools.
“The diaspora should care because education is the foundation of progress,” Bart-Appiah told The Informer. “If we support education in Africa, it’s an investment in future leaders and also [in]… anyone with an unquenchable thirst to connect to the continent of Africa and [to] Ghana.”
The initiative calls on people of African descent to return to the continent as pilgrims, allowing them to spiritually and culturally connect to the land. The diasporic engagement, institutional partnerships and philanthropic collaboration made possible through this project give what would have simply been tourist visits to Ghana more meaning as they will include acts of service, purpose, legacy and nation-building.
Such a mission, which could include student exchange programs, academic partnerships and further opportunities connecting Africa to the United States and the rest of the world, requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, which is why GETFund Administrator Paul Adjei is calling for members of the diaspora worldwide to align themselves with the project of turning open-air classrooms into permanent structures of hope.
“GETFund is building modern classrooms to restore dignity to learning, but we cannot do it alone at the speed that our children need,” Adjei said in a written statement sent to The Informer. “[We] need the diaspora’s help through investment, philanthropy and advocacy to act faster.”
Tackling a Nationwide Need for Equitable Education Access
Data released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2020 revealed that an estimated 283,000 primary-aged and 135,000 lower secondary-aged children in Ghana are out of school.
The Africa Education Watch December 2025 Census of Out-of-School Children in Northern Ghana report stated that, in some cases, schools under trees leave children exposed to environmental risks and are sometimes staffed with untrained or absentee teachers— conditions that can make school unattractive for many.
“Without infrastructure, there can’t be equitable access,” said Africa Education Watch Executive Director Kofi Asare during a Channel One TV panel on Jan. 13. “Equitable access is a key denominator of success.”
Asare revealed that before 2024, there was a deficit of one million desks in the West African country, which resulted in ₵700 million (more than $64 million) being allocated from GETFund and the country’s District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) for desks. Another ₵700 million was set aside to construct new schools on both the 2025 and 2026 budgets.
In Ghana’s 2026 education budget, ₵2 billion is allocated for the construction of 200 junior high schools, 200 primary schools, 200 kindergartens, 400 4-unit teachers’ bungalows and 400 places of convenience in underserved communities.
“In two years, if we follow through, we would have been building the same number of schools that we built in about six years within two years,” Asare said.
Interested in how the foundation years shape how people grow up and learn about their identity, community and leaders, Bart-Appiah hopes that his initiative will allow young Ghanaians living in the country the access they need to quality education and efficiently equip them for future success.
While Every Child Deserves a Classroom fulfills this mission and tackles the need for more reliable educational infrastructure, it will also bridge the diaspora to Africa and uphold Ghana’s legacy of promoting Pan-Africanism through visiting the continent.
Bart-Appiah believes that keeping alive Ghana’s spirit of liberation and diasporic unity through projects like his will lead to a sense of responsibility among people of African descent.
“People begin to invest, support education, build businesses and mentor young people and strengthen communities, and I believe that’s how reconnection becomes a long-term development,” the Ghanaian royal told The Informer. “I’m excited that we are creating something that will benefit us, our children and our children’s children.”
The post Every Child Deserves A Classroom: Addressing Ghana’s Education Gap appeared first on The Washington Informer.