Early childhood education key for development — Frank Korang
The Officer In-Charge of the National Nursery Teachers Training Centre, Mr Frank Williams Korang has attributed the poor performance of Ghanaian students to delays in enrollment in preschool education.
He said children who attend early learning programmes are less likely to repeat a grade or be placed in special education classes, and wondered why early childhood education is still optional in Ghana.
Advertisement
Mr Korang was speaking at the graduation ceremony of Ave Maria Nursery School in Accra, which saw the 59 graduands presented with certificates, during which programme the children put up various musical dances, drama sketches, an impressive parade and inspection of a junior cadet with parents and patrons cheering, while deserving ones received prizes.
He said “the first three to five years play a key role in a child’s life as they begin to absorb the world around them and develop,” adding that “these experiences that children have early in their lives affect their development physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially.”
Mr. Frank Williams Korang, In-Charge of the National Nursery Teachers Training Centre
Arguing that education is not an option but an imperative, he said the best investment to ensure the future success of a child is to invest in the early years of their lives through education.
“Children develop the healthiest when they are provided environments in which they can explore the world around them, play with others, and learn to speak and listen to others,” Mr Korang noted.
According to him, “if children don’t learn in their early childhood they may have more trouble learning in the future.”
He further emphasised that it is important that major stakeholders in education, including parents and government be made to understand the essence of early childhood education.
“Education must be a top priority of the global political and development agendas,” Mr Korang said, adding that education empowers people and transforms lives. “None of us here could ever imagine what our lives and those of our children would be without education,” he said.
He explained that having access to education can be lifesaving “for children who have been marginalised by poverty, ethnicity, disability, location or gender”, and for pregnant women in particular, it is a life saver during birth as basic steps to safe delivery are easily understood and effected.
Mr Korang, therefore commended parents who are investing in the early education of their children.