Early Childhood Education occupies an area of key priority in this govt – Ntim Fordjour

The Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. Ntim Fordjour, has emphasized the need to prioritize Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Ghana.

According to the deputy minister, significant strides have been made by the government to improve the ECE subsector.

His assertion was in response to the statement made by the MP for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini, on the floor of parliament, regarding Early Childhood Education, referencing the GES Lively Minds Programme as a case study.

Speaking in parliament, Ntim Fordjour stated that, “When we introduced the standard based curriculum, we had the partnership of Ghana Education Service, Lively Minds, Sabre Education, IPA, Right to Play and some other notable organisations, UNICEF included. These organizations have taken various aspects of our curriculum and have introduced the play pedagogies.

"Honourable Fordjour stressed the importance of the play-based approach, due to research showing that children learn best through play and therefore it helps teachers to engage leaners in an optimum way."

He also underscored the significant educational outcomes emanating because of the ECE interventions rolled out in schools.

He further intimated the need for harmonization of ECE interventions to avoid duplication of efforts.

He went on to say, “We see so many NGOs operating in silos and therefore the kind of harmonized impact we ought to gain in their interventions is not maximized. Taking a cue from that, we have managed to harmonize all of the players within the play-based sector”..

In addition to praising the approach of the GES Lively Minds Programme, which is currently engaging 90,000 rural parents in classrooms to assist in the learning of their children, the deputy minister also made mention of the KG INSET Manual that was launched last year and will be scaled to train 48,000 kindergarten teachers nationwide.

He commended all ECE NGOs in the country for their commitment towards combating learning poverty and reiterated his ministry’s commitment to engaging global partners to source funding and support to improve ECE in Ghana.



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NAY/AE