Education directorates in two districts in the Upper East Region, Builsa South and Binduri districts, along with a third in the North East Region, the Mamprugu Moagduri district, have received support from AfriKids, a child’s rights organization based in the Upper East Region.
Each of the districts received GHC50,000. The funds are to help improve the quality of education in a total of 60 schools in the aforementioned areas.
In each of these districts, School Performance Appraisal Meetings (SPAMs) were held. These meetings were to help identify the major challenges that affect the quality of education.
In each of the districts, the absence of teaching and learning materials, rundown school infrastructure, and inadequate access to Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) facilities were major challenges that were identified.
After the SPAM, School Performance Implementation Plans (SPIPs) were held to discuss solutions to the problems that were identified.
The various District Directorates of Education made appeals to AfriKids for support. The communities where the schools are located are to, however, complement the funds provided by AfriKids to help address the challenges.
When the Communication and Advocacy Manager for AfriKids, Raymond Ayinne, spoke to the media, he restated AfriKids’ commitment to helping build a proper foundation for students.
“So, for us in AfriKids, child rights is the primary focus of our work. And we work in areas like education, child protection, and child health. Our work primarily is focused on looking at promoting positive learning outcomes at the basic level. We have a few interventions that look at tertiary, but 90 percent or more of our investment is in education at the basic level because we believe that that is the foundation, basic and pre-school.”
“That is the foundation of our educational journey for everyone. If you have a sound, solid foundation at the pre-school and at the primary and junior high school, you stand a huge chance of converting that into a positive learning outcome in terms of how you transition from one level of education to the other. So, today, this activity is just one of several activities that we organize as part of our work in education,” he said.
Beyond the support to fix the physical structures and deal with teaching and learning materials, Mr. Ayinne stated that AfriKids has shown great interest in the governance systems in the various schools.
“We started by looking at the governance system, making sure that schools have an effective PTA and SMC, that the members, especially the executives, know their roles and also know their responsibilities. That the schools integrate them into their day-to-day activities and that the PTA and the SMCs take full responsibility for what happens and or does not happen in the schools for the benefit of their children. And so, having done that, the schools conducted an appraisal to assess their needs and to know their strengths and their weaknesses,” he said.
The funds from AfriKids, Mr. Ayinne said, are to support government efforts. The support forms part of AfriKids’ One Million Smiles Intervention.
The 1 Million Smiles Strategy aims at making Ghana a beacon for child rights. It’s a 5-year strategy for Afrikids. It is in its third year.
The strategy identifies the most significant challenges children face and explains contributions to be able to better the situation.
The primary focus areas are child protection, education, and health. The idea is to Ensure Means, Build Motive, Create Opportunities, and Advocate Wider Change.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
