Swedish NGO organises workshop on pre-school teaching aids

Sherigu (Upper East), 22 Jan '99,--

Parents have been urged to join hands with other stakeholders in the educational sector to provide pre-school children with basic teaching and learning materials.

A Swedish pre-school educationist, Miss Barbros Wallhager, made the call at Sherigu, near Bolgatanga, yesterday when she addressed the closing ceremony of a day's workshop on the development of teaching aids for children under five years.

The workshop was organised by Star of Hope International (SHI), a Swedish Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), and attended by 150 day care attendants and parents drawn from the Bolgatanga district.

Miss Wallhager, a consultant to SHI of 43-school education, said there was the need for parents to get involved in the provision of basic needs that would enable the children to develop their learning skills faster.

She said by the age of five, most children would have developed about 80 per cent of their brains but because they do not have a good command of spoken language, they find it difficult to learn through the traditional methods.

Miss Wallhager noted that children are the foundation stone and future hope of every society and must, therefore, be given the needed attention to develop their God-given talents.

Naba Apasenaba the Second, chief of Sherigu, on behalf of the chiefs and people of his traditional area, thanked the NGO for selecting his community for the workshop.

He pledged the support of his people towards the area's day nursery and called on the Bolgatanga District Assembly to provide the school with more furniture and other facilities.

Skills taught at the workshop included how to use local materials to make dolls, straw mats, musical instruments and toys for children at home and in school.

Participants were also taught how to handle children under their care, provide their dietary needs as well as bring out the best in them.

The participants at the end of the workshop were assisted to produce a variety of teaching and learning materials from local materials.