By Albert Futukpor
Nalerigu (NE/R), July 29, GNA – Children Believe Ghana has commended the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) for their support towards improving Early Childhood Education (ECE) in the North East Region.
The contribution is being implemented through the $2.14 million Quality and Inclusive Early Childhood Education Services for All Children Phase II (QAIECE II) project, aimed at enhancing access to quality and inclusive early childhood education services.
The project is led by ChorogUsan for Children and jointly implemented by Children Believe Ghana, and AG Care Ghana.
The commendation was made during a Regional Stakeholders’ Engagement forum on ECE, held at Nalerigu in the North East Region.
The forum brought together more than 40 participants from the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ghana Health Service (GHS), Department of Social Welfare, the Regional Coordinating Council, East and West Mamprusi Municipal Assemblies, headteachers, development partners and other stakeholders to review progress, discuss emerging challenges, and validate advocacy priorities aimed at improving access, quality and inclusivity in ECE across the region.
Madam Esenam Kavi De Souza, Country Director, Children Believe Ghana, speaking at the forum, said the organisation had invested in education programmes across the country for more than three decades and remained committed to ensuring that children had access to quality learning opportunities from an early age.
She said “It is through this background that we are grateful to KOICA for the support to implement the Quality and Inclusive Early Childhood Education Services for All Children Project in the North East Region.”
Madam De Souza underscored the importance of investing in children’s formative years, citing the words of Irish poet William Butler Yeats: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
She said Children Believe and its implementing partner; AG Care Ghana, firmly believed that every child’s educational journey must begin with a strong foundation.
She emphasised that “Without the right foundation for our children, every other investment we make later in their education will not give us the desired result.”
Through the support of KOICA, the project has recorded significant progress in expanding access to quality kindergarten education.
To date, 14 fully furnished ultra-modern kindergarten facilities have been completed and are operational across the East and West Mamprusi Municipalities, while three additional facilities are under construction at Soansobigi, Sumniboma and Zangum.
The project would also provide 16,876 workbooks for KG pupils, digital equipment to six target schools, five boreholes, training of 136 teachers in the new KG curriculum, and ICT amongst others.
The project is also developing facility maintenance manuals to promote sustainability of the investments.
The project targets to reach 122,211 pupils comprising 59,186 males and 63,025 females in 30 communities in the two municipalities.
The forum also highlighted findings from the QAIECE Phase II Baseline Study, which established benchmarks for measuring project performance, progress, and impact.
The study revealed encouraging outcomes in child development with 66.33 per cent of children developmentally on track in numeracy and 73.37% demonstrating adequate physical development.
However, gaps remain, with only 49.25% of children on track in literacy and 52.26% demonstrating age-appropriate socio-emotional skills, indicating the need for greater investment in foundational literacy and social-emotional development.
In terms of the learning environment, the baseline found that only 59% of kindergartens assessed met national standards suggesting that many schools still required improvements in infrastructure, teaching and learning materials, and overall classroom conditions.
Additionally, only 51% of teachers were practising trained teaching methods, with stronger performance recorded in East Mamprusi compared to West Mamprusi.
The stakeholders also examined critical challenges affecting ECE delivery in the region where key concerns included overcrowded kindergarten classrooms, the enrollment of under-age children, inadequate classroom furniture and severe teacher shortages.
In some schools, pupil-to-teacher ratios were reported to be as high as 70:1 significantly affecting effective teaching and learning.
Several schools were also found to lack access to basic utilities such as electricity and potable water while broken furniture and damaged playground equipment continued to undermine the quality of the learning environment.
During discussions, participants called for stricter enforcement of age-appropriate enrollment policies to reduce congestion in kindergarten classrooms and improve learning outcomes.
The GES committed to directing headteachers to adhere to national kindergarten admission standards and prevent the admission of under-age learners.
Teacher deployment and retention emerged as another critical issue where Municipal Education Directors pledged to rationalize teacher deployment to ensure equitable distribution of kindergarten teachers and improve pupil-teacher ratios across schools.
Stakeholders also called for sustained teacher professional development, stronger Professional Learning Communities and increased utilisation of trained community volunteers to complement teaching efforts where staffing gaps existed.
On infrastructure and sustainability, the stakeholders emphasized the importance of community ownership and maintenance of school facilities.
Municipal Assemblies committed to supporting schools in securing essential services such as electricity while community leaders pledged to take greater responsibility for maintaining ECE infrastructure and safeguarding project investments.
The forum further reviewed QAIECE II Year Two implementation plans including the training of kindergarten teachers, School Improvement Support Officers and school management structures, the provision of teaching and learning materials, parenting education for more than 2,100 caregivers, radio-based awareness campaigns and strengthened monitoring and evaluation activities.
A midline survey scheduled between October and December, this year, will assess progress against baseline indicators; document lessons learned and identify areas requiring additional intervention.
Participants reaffirmed inclusive education as a priority and pledged to work collaboratively to ensure that all children, especially the most vulnerable, had access to quality early childhood education services.
GNA
Edited by Eric K Amoh/Audrey Deklau
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