For over 600 years, apart from the Ada and Songhor areas, the Anlo area had been the safest and ‘richest enclave’ providing salt to most communities in the then Gold Coast, now Ghana. It also provided most communities in Ghana with fish, especially anchovies and sardines which were nick-named ‘Keta school boys’ because of their abundance in the Keta area and the then buoyant Keta market serving as the main supply center.

Before the introduction of the Western style of education in 1783, the people of Anlo were engaged in trading, fishing, and farming. However, since 1783 the people of Anlo took to education and by so doing produced critical manpower for the Gold Coast/Ghana Civil Service, Military, Police, and other State agencies. The Anlos, whose honesty was proverbial, at that time, were the toast of foreign employers and businessmen. The best teachers came from the Anlo traditional area and their penchant for quality has never been compromised. They were therefore in high demand throughout Ghana. Indeed, the Anlos always say ‘Education is our Cocoa’. Therefore, parents as well as teachers paid a special attention to education.         

When Ghana started having the ripple effect of worsening economic conditions from the 1990s, the social, cultural, economic, and political conditions of the Anlos tottered. Job avenues dried up. Fishing and farming, which had provided most of the jobs dwindled because of environmental and man-made causes.

 In the 1960s and the 1990s and even now, the Atlantic Ocean inundated and destroyed most of the coastal lands. The high tides of the sea made fishing expeditions hazardous. With most of the land gone into the sea and with the depleting fish stock and farming no longer being lucrative, most of the people migrated outside the Anlo traditional area.

 A combination of the factors mentioned above led to a sharp decline in the academic standards in both basic and second-cycle educational institutions. Increasing poverty levels of parents coupled with declining livelihoods in the Traditional Areas have made it difficult for most parents to fund their children’s education beyond the Basic Education level.  Fees paid in Second Cycle and Tertiary Institutions have more than doubled over the past decade. The increased financial burden on parents and students has resulted in decreased Gross Enrolment Rates (GER) and decreased retention of students at higher levels of education. Fortunately, the Fee Free Senior High School Education policy has seemingly reduced the burden on parents, albeit not completely.

Teaching and learning aids, textbooks as well as other teaching facilities and equipment are largely insufficient in most schools in the Traditional Area. Education infrastructure has also deteriorated in most basic and senior high schools. This coupled with a lack of residential accommodation and poor teacher incentives are factors that have made it difficult to attract a high caliber of teachers to educational institutions in the Traditional Area.  This situation has resulted in increased desperation of parents and students to secure financial assistance from wherever possible. Members of Parliament and District/ Municipal Assemblies within the Anlo Traditional Area are pressurized to sponsor students. In some cases, children must work in very hazardous circumstances in order to look after themselves both at school and at home.  Most worrying is the fact that brilliant students with poor parents are losing out on opportunities for higher education. No doubt, the Anlo traditional area will be the greatest loser in the end.

To contribute to addressing the challenges mentioned above, the AETF was established to work to improve the educational performance of the youth of Anlo State.