Mr. Seth Kwaku Donkor, the eldest among six siblings, comes from Dormaa Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo region. He is married with one child, and has been teaching for the past fourteen years, with a class of up to 45 students at this time. Seth loves listening to country music; Kenny Rogers is a favorite of his.
When Mr. Donkor was younger he admired a doctor in Dormaa Ahenkro, and it was his wish to become a doctor too. In senior high school, he studied science in the hope of achieving that dream. Fate, however, dealt a different card and financial difficulties meant that he could not continue along that path. So he decided to focus on education, enrolling at St. Joseph’s Training College from 2001 to 2004 and graduating with a Diploma in Basic Education. After that he taught for a while before returning to get a degree in Basic Education in 2014.
Mr. Donkor loves teaching STEM, and to improve his skill and knowledge, he attends various workshops. He explains that being a STEM educator is easier now than before because there are materials available which enable educators to explain concepts by transforming them from the abstract to reality. This makes it possible to answer in detail the many questions that his students ask. He adds that the good performance of his students during the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) remains his greatest source of motivation.
Mr. Donkor often takes the opportunity whenever it presents itself to counsel and guide his students, explaining the benefits of taking their education seriously and discussing the things happening around them.
When he was informed about his schools’ participation in the JUNEOS Challenge, he says: “We gathered our materials and found equipment for the experiments. Then I got my students prepared by going through several trials with them in order to get them familiar with the apparatus before we went in for the challenge.” He explains why they chose the particular experiment: “I realized that when we treated that topic in class the students were excited by it and they were interested in doing it by themselves.”
Mr Donkor would be glad to participate in the JUNEOS challenge at any time in the future because he has realized that his participation has improved his teaching skills greatly. He says that he can teach using a projector and also uses various materials in the classroom for practical demonstrations. This, he says, makes teaching and learning very interactive. He has also learnt that performing different experiments to explain topics makes students better learners. For all this, he is really grateful to JUNEOS.
It is his prayer that his school receives more materials for teaching and practicals. He is also interested in attending all future workshops, and hopes that JUNEOS grows and reaches greater heights. For himself, Mr. Donkor hopes to become a laboratory technician educator in the next 5 to 10 years.
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Article by Kofi Konadu Berko.
Kofi Konadu Berko is passionate about education and youth development. He holds a B.A in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies from the University Of Ghana. His works have been published in the historic Afroyoung Adult anthology titled Waterbirds On the Lakeshore, Adabraka: Stories From the Center Of the World, Tampered Press and the Kalahari Review. He blogs at obolokofi.wordpress.com
That is great!
That is Great Man