Afrikids programme to reach 2,375 out-of-school children
The second phase of the Complimentary Basic Education Programme (CBE), which is being implemented by Afrikids Ghana, a non-governmental organisation in the Upper East Region, will reach out to 2,375 out-of-school children by the close of this year.
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Last year, the organisation identified 1,500 out-of-school children who benefited from the programme. All the beneficiaries are located in communities within the Bongo,Talensi and Nabdam districts, where the organisation is implementing the CBE. The programme is aimed, among other objectives, at providing nine months of literacy and numeracy education to out-of-school children ahead of their mainstreaming into formal school.
The Project Coordinator of Afrikids, Mr Richard Amoah, told the Daily Graphic that there were 20,044 out-of-school children in the region who needed urgent help from public-spirited organisations to get hooked on to the CBE.
Challenges
Mr Amoah further mentioned that the refusal of parents to allow their children to be enrolled under the programme, inadequate teaching and learning materials and the difficulty in identifying orphaned children were some of the challenges the programme was facing.
Facilitators
At a closing ceremony in Bolgatanga, after an 18-day training programme for 96 facilitators of the CBE, drawn from the Talensi, Nabdam and Bongo districts, the Country Director of Afrikids, Mr Nicholas Kumah, expressed gratitude to the facilitators for "keeping faith with the programme."
He entreated them to put the knowledge and skills they had acquired into practice to justify the trust and confidence reposed in them.
Mr Kumah announced plans "to go an extra mile" by providing GH¢100 as transport allowance for the facilitators. He also indicated that arrangements would be made to support them to renew their membership or register under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
The director entreated the facilitators to be punctual and to work harmoniously with the School Management Committees and Local Committee members to continue the regular awareness meetings in the communities for parents to appreciate the relevance of education.
Appeal
The course prefect for the facilitators, Madam Jessica Adongo, appealed to the programme coordinators to provide the new facilitators with bicycles to enhance their work.
Education materials
After the programme, educational materials such as crayons, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, literacy and numeracy primers, exercise books, dusters, boxes of chalk, rulers and pens were given to each of the 96 facilitators to be distributed to their respective communities.