Inside TINASCO: Assistant Headmaster Yakubu Mohammed Jibril on the School's Turkish-Backed Origins, Teacher Support, and Track Record

Yakubu Mohammed Jibril with Mustapha Bature Sallama

In a wide-ranging conversation, Yakubu Mohammed Jibril, Assistant Headmaster in charge of Administration at TINASCO Hudai Tiwnikli International Senior High School spoke about the institution's origins, its relationship with its Turkish founding organisation, its academic structure, how it supports its teaching staff, and the school's track record since it began graduating students.

Origins: A Turkish NGO's Vision
TINASCO exists because of Hudai, a Turkish non-governmental organisation that established itself in Ghana and decided to build a school within the National Mosque Complex.

"Basically, the school exists because Hudai found itself in Ghana," Jibril explained. "The management and directors of Hudai came out with the idea that there should be a school like this in the National Mosque Complex."

According to Jibril, the name behind the organisation carries personal weight: Hudai is a family name, tied to two brothers who championed the founding of the mosque complex and insisted a school be built within it as one of the organisation's key pillars even though neither brother lived to see the school open.

"These people came all the way from Turkey to open [this school], and they didn't even see the opening," Jibril said. "Now they are somewhere, and I'm sure they are reaping the benefit of it because anyone that comes to this place and is able to learn even one thing, even one letter, that is a reward that goes to them."

He described the relationship between the school and Hudai as inseparable: "You can look at it like a mother and a servant, because this school wouldn't exist without them." He noted the school's official registered name reflects this origin directly.

A Secular School with an Islamic Studies Component

Despite its founding under an Islamic mosque complex, Jibril was clear that TINASCO operates as a secular school, within which the Qur'an is taught as part of the curriculum rather than the school being run as a strictly religious institution.

He also noted that the school separates boys and girls in classes, laboratories, and hostel accommodation even as it delivers a broader Islamic studies curriculum than the Qur'an alone.

As he put it earlier in the conversation, "a lot of people, when they hear 'Islamic school,' just think about the place where the Qur'an is recited.

Here, we go beyond the Qur'an because Islam is broader than just the Qur'an."

The Weight Placed on Teachers
Jibril was emphatic about the pressure and expectations placed on TINASCO's teaching staff a pressure he says compares to, or exceeds, what's found in the public sector or many private schools. But he was careful to clarify what that pressure is actually about.

"It's not just about what they will teach you per say," he said. "The teacher, to a large extent, plays a huge role even more than the headmaster because of the contact they have with students, literally all the time."

Beyond subject knowledge in biology, chemistry, or any other subject, he said, students often pick up character and behaviour cues directly from their teachers.

To support that responsibility, the school runs regular professional development for its staff. "Any time the new academic year starts, we get experts in the field to come and give them training," Jibril said, citing a recent seminar held just days before the conversation.

Topics are chosen deliberately classroom management, assessment, educational technology and teachers themselves are sometimes consulted on what they feel they need to learn to do their jobs better.

Turkish Language Instruction
As part of its curriculum, TINASCO offers Turkish language instruction from the first to second year, taking students to an A1 proficiency level.

"It's not really enough, of course," Jibril acknowledged, "but for those that plan to study in Turkey, it usually provides the foundation upon which they're able to learn the Turkish language over there faster."

Instruction is handled by a mix of Turkish nationals and Ghanaian graduates of Turkish universities currently just two staff members within the school handle this, though more Turkish graduates work elsewhere within the wider mosque complex.

Government Relationship
Despite being a private, non-governmental institution, TINASCO operates under the oversight of Ghana's Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, which handle its accreditation and certification.

The government also periodically invites the school's administrators and teachers to training sessions particularly around the rollout of Ghana's new curriculum and provides supporting materials and resources.

Graduates and Scholarship Outcomes
Since its founding, TINASCO has graduated approximately 208 students 168 as of last year, plus 60 more in the most recent academic year.

Of that total, a substantial share has gone on to study in Turkey: 57 students prior to this year, with roughly nine confirmed and another three in process from this year's graduating class, pushing the cumulative total toward around 70 students roughly a quarter of all graduates.

Of the students who went on to Turkey, more than half Jibril estimated around 60% did so on scholarship, whether through the Turkish government's scholarship programs or arrangements arising from bilateral relationships between the school and Turkish universities; others are self-sponsored.

TINASCO'sTINASCO's graduates aren't limited to Turkey, however. Jibril noted alumni currently studying in the UK, the US, China, and Spain, alongside many enrolled in various programs at Ghanaian universities.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. ( USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880