By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Yagaba (NE/R), May 3, GNA – AfriKids Ghana, a child rights focused organisation, has supported three districts with GH₵150,000 to strengthen their efforts to address challenges confronting basic education in those areas.
The support, GH₵50,000 for each directorate of the Ghana Education Service, is to support 60 schools; 20 each in Builsa South and Binduri in the Upper East Region and Mamprugu-Moagduri in the North East Region to contribute to enhance quality of teaching and learning.
Under its five-year strategy dubbed “one million smiles,” AfriKids Ghana is leveraging support from stakeholders and partners to support basic schools in their operational districts to ensure that children had access to quality basic education and under conducive and receptive environment.
Presenting the cheques to the managements of the directorates at separate locations, Mr Raymond Akolbire Ayinne, Communications and Advocacy Manager, AfriKids Ghana, noted that over the years his outfit had been working to promote the rights of children in the areas of education, child protection and child health.
He said the support was necessitated after the beneficiary schools undertook their School Performance Appraisal Meetings (SPAM) and designed their School Performance Improvement Plans (SPIN) to address challenges facing the schools.
The SPAM refers to the meeting of school management, parents, assembly members, chief and other stakeholders involved in the management of the school to assess the state and performance of the school and identify challenges facing the school and how those challenges could be addressed.
The SPIN also refers to the activities planned by management of the school to undertake within a specific period to address the problems facing the school.
Mr Ayinne said through those meetings issues such as lack of teaching and learning materials for teachers and students, deplorable state of school structures that require minor repairs, lack of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities were identified.
“These are usually the activities that the capitation grants are used to fund in the past, but as we are all aware the flow of the capitation grant is irregular and government has not been able to make sure that these grants get to the school as expected to help them meet their pressing needs,” he said.
The Communications and Advocacy Manager underscored the significance of creating an environment that was receptive and conducive, expressing optimism that the gesture would help improve teaching and learning in the area.
“Our work primarily is focused on promoting positive learning outcomes at the basic level, we have a few interventions at the tertiary level, but 90 percent of our investment is at the basic level because we believe that basic education is the foundation of our education journey,” he said.
Mr Matthew Abagna, the Mamprugu-Moadgduri District Manager of AfriKids Ghana, said AfriKids would monitor to ensure that the gesture was put into beneficial use to improve learning outcomes.
Receiving the cheque, Mr Elias Azure Abange, the Mamprugu-Moagduri District Director of Ghana Education Service, thanked AfriKids and its partners for constantly supporting basic education in the area over the years and promised that the support would be put into good use to improve education.
He said lack of teaching resources for teachers and textbooks for students have been the major challenges facing the schools and added that apart from using part of the support to rehabilitate the dilapidated school structures and provide potable water for the schools, it would also prioritise the procurement of teaching and learning materials for teachers and students.
GNA