Out-of-school children learn skills and enrol in education
Plan International Ghana has supported nearly 93,000 out-of-school children to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills so they can enrol in education.
Out-of-school children graduate from basic literacy and numeracy training.
Nearly 1,000 out-of-school children from Ghana’s Northern Region have graduated from literacy and numeracy training and are enrolling in the formal school system.
The children took part in Plan International Ghana’s complementary basic education programme between October 2019 and September 2020.
Basic skills for out-of-school children
Through the programme, run in partnership with the Ministry of Education and partner organisation Educate a Child, the children between the ages of 8 and 16 learned basic skills in their first languages so they could join schools when they reopened in January.
The overall goal of the programme is to reduce the number of out-of-school children in Ghana by supporting them to gain key skills and enrol in school.
Mr. Baba Musah, Sambu Circuit Supervisor of the Mion District Directorate of Education, spoke at the children’s graduation ceremony and urged parents to support their children to remain in school. “I welcome these children into the formal school system, and this means that when school resumes, they will automatically be admitted into the various classes they have been placed in,” he said.
We have come to realise how important education is and it is our resolve that no children from our community will be denied the opportunity to be in school.
“I urge all parents to support this achievement and ensure they prepare, provide basic school needs, and send the children to the schools for admission when they resume in January. No child should be left behind again.”
Graduation ceremonies were also held in 7 districts (East Mamprusi, Gushegu, Karaga, Mion, Nanumba North and South, and Kpandai) for about 7,500 other children who also benefited from the programme.
93,000 children receive support
The graduation ceremony brought the project to an end which has seen around 93,000 out-of-school children receive support throughout the country. At the end of the project, 93% of the children had joined the formal school system.
Mr. Mbayan Maaja, Local Committee Chairman and a parent in the Mion District, who was at the ceremony, said: “We have seen the transformation in the lives of our children, and we are very excited. Within 9 months our children can read and write, and their focus has moved to schooling.
“We have come to realise how important education is and it is our resolve that no children from our community will be denied the opportunity to be in school.”
Mr. Sulemana Hor Gbana, Project Manager at Plan International Ghana, said “We set out to enrol 90,000 children and we succeeded in enrolling about 93,000. We also said 90% of this number should complete the programme, and we had about 92% completion,” he said.
“We also set a target to get at least 70% of the children to transition to formal schools and we had about 93% so it was a great success.”
Communities support education
The project also built the capacity of about 4,000 community volunteers to support efforts to ensure children accessed formal education in their communities. “We also tackle cultural issues such as early marriages and parents preferring to send boys to school,” said Mr Gbana.
Mr. Gbana appealed for more school infrastructure in communities, recruitment and posting of teachers to underserved communities, and the commitment of parents to support the education of their children.
Education, Out-of-school children
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