8,275 out of school children in northern Ghana have successfully completed a 9-month learning course on literacy in numeracy.
The children, aged between 8 and 14, were selected from seven districts in the Upper west region, 2 in the Brong Ahafo and 1 in the Northern region under the cycle four of the Complementary Basic Education(CBE) programme.
They were all provided with certificates to facilitate their enrollment into formal schools next academic year.
Mr. Martin Dery,country director of Pro-Net North Ghana, a non governmental organization implementing the CBE programme in the selected districts, speaking to Citi News after one of the graduation ceremonies held at Pigbengbe in the Wa West district of the Upper West region, was full of praise for the the successful implementation of the programme.
“For us it is exciting because the programme provides an opportunity for children who otherwise would have been out of school to go into the formal school system to pursue higher education.”
Mr. Dery appealed to government to provide the needed school infrastructure to absorb the children in the coming academic year.
Available records from UNICEF indicate that, over 500,000 children of school going age, majority of them in Ghana’s northern belt are out of school.
This situation, the country director said is unacceptable and admonished parents to take the education of their children very serious.
Madam Cynthia Nuobile, a mother whose two children were part of 25 children who completed the 4th cycle at Pigbengbe, commended the NGO for the intervention. She said her first two children who are now in formal schools also benefited from the programme.
The 41 year old mother of six however decried the 14km distance children in the community embark on each day to access primary education in the nearest village.
“Education is good but our children feel very tired and weak anytime they return from school. From here to the next community is more that 10km and you can imagine going and coming each day”.
She appealed to government to urgently come to the aid of the children by constructing a school in the village.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
