The District Chief Executive [DCE] for Bongo in the Upper East Region, Hon. Peter Ayinbisa Ayamga has stated that education is a necessary conveyor belt to success because getting it right especially from the very basics like the Kindergarten [KG], brightens one’s chances for high academic achievements.
In a speech read for him at a stakeholders’ meeting in Bongo to outdoor findings of a Citizen Report Card Survey conducted in 2016 on the improvement of KG education in the district, the DCE noted that education develops the personality of people, provides positive physical and mental standards while it transforms the lives and status of people. He emphasised “we are incomplete without a good education because education makes us right thinkers and thus, correct and accurate decision makers”. The Community Development and Advocacy Centre [CODAC], a local NGO headquartered in Bolgatanga, carried out the survey.
Hon. Ayamga noted that the brain in early childhood takes after whatever the environment and immediate surroundings present and stressed that, it was the responsibility of Government and other stakeholders in education to create the right learning space for all children as education is the fundamental right of everyone. He further noted that, an effective curriculum for early child education is essential as it encourages and develops language and vocabulary skills often through play and formal instruction. He said children should be taught at their early ages to acquire good social skills as well as the morals and values of the society so that they don’t depart from these when they grow up.
Touching on the status of kindergarten education the district, the DCE revealed that a total of 7,479 children were currently enrolled in KGs across the district. This number comprised 3,813 boys and 3,666 girls. He pledged that the Assembly has resolved to give teachers proper motivation to enable them give off their best while adequate teaching and learning will be made available.
President of the Past and Present Assembly Women’s Association [PPAWA] Hon. Bride Apania formally presented the survey findings and disclosed that, the women’s rights-centered NGO CODAC with support its partners, conducted the survey last year with the overall aim of assessing the impact of the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant [GPEG] project on the quality of KG education from the perspective of service users in the Bongo District. She said the survey also looked at the extent to which parents and the communities got involved in early childhood education.
Hon. Apania therefore appealed to the Assembly to quickly mobilise funds for the construction of appropriate child-friendly facilities at the various KGs while additional efforts should be made to put up KG blocks in underserved communities where children had to perch under tress for lessons. She also urged teachers and other KG school authorities to give regular feedback on the performance of the children to their caretakers and parents.
Bongo District Director of the Ghana Education Service, Mr. Duncan Nsoh in his remarks hinted that Ministry of Education was planning to roll out a model plan for the construction and furnishing of KG school infrastructure throughout the country to incorporate all facilities that are needed to give these young children an all-round development. He said regardless of the inadequate numbers of KG school blocks in the district, the Assembly was doing well as it constructs two to three blocks from its Common Fund whenever the releases were received from the fund administrators.
Meanwhile, CODAC also held a similar engagement meeting this Monday with some selected political parties in the Bongo Constituency to assess the parties’ commitment towards putting women in charge of some of their party executive positions. That meeting also sought to identify the gender gaps in the political parties and to solicit the views of stakeholders to effectively address the challenges.
BY: PETER ATOGEWE WEDAM
