1,220 Children in U/E to get formal education

One thousand two hundred and twenty children in Upper East Region, have completed a nine-month Complimentary Basic Education (CBE) programme and would join the mainstream formal education in September.

Most of the children, made up of 602 boys and 617 girls were shepherds, baby-sitters and house cleaners in the Kassena -Nankana Municipal and Kassena-Nankana West Districts of the Region.

The government, through sponsorship from the UK Department for International Department (DFID), undertook the exercise by engaging some non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) to implement the CBE programme, aimed at meeting Ghana’s Free, Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE), which requires all children of school-going-age to achieve basic education.

Link Community Development, an NGO, was engaged to implement the programme in collaboration with Ghana Education Service in the two districts. The graduating ceremony for the children was held in 57 communities in the two districts.

Kassena-Nankana Municipal Education Director, Mr Augustine Ayirezang gave the assurance that government would provide the children with books and school uniforms, while the teachers and parents would be educated on how to retain their wards in the classroom.

Mr Samuel Ofori Boakye, Programmes Coordinator of Link Community Development, said the second phase of the programme has targeted 1, 625 children. He, therefore, entreated parents to allow their children to patronise the classes.

Most of the parents, who could not hide their joy, expressed their gratitude to the programme organisers and promised to play their roles very well by supporting the education of their children.