Government urged to give attention to pre-school education

Kumasi, May 14, GNA - The Kwabre District Director of Education, Reverend J.H. Ofosuhene, has called on the government to give adequate attention to early childhood education to help build a brighter future for the youth.

Reverend Ofosuhene said the government should consider giving special training to teachers in pre-school and also motivate them with awards as it was being done to basic school teachers. He said this at the closing of a nine-day workshop organized by the Millennium City Initiative (MCI) and the Kumasi Metro Education, in partnership with Mashav in Israel for pre-school coordinators and teachers in Kumasi on Wednesday.

Speaking on the theme: "Mediation in Early Childhood for Cognitive and Linguistic Development," Rev Ofosuhene charged educators to help children acquire numeracy, literacy and problem solving - the three key pillars of education.

Mrs Gladys Amaning, Kumasi Metro Director of Education, said pre-school education should serve as a foundation for basic schools and therefore required great efforts from teachers. She advised teachers not to feel reluctant or insulted when asked to teach the kindergarten but consider it as a contribution to the development of pre-school education. Mrs. Aviva Ben Hefer, a facilitator at the workshop and an official of the Ministry of Education in Israel, said the aim of the programme was to prop up early childhood education in ensuring a better future for the nation.

She appealed to head teachers to reduce the number of children in a classroom to curb rising cases of respiratory diseases among children and also to enable teachers give equal attention to students. School heads must make reading books and other teaching and learning materials available to help expand the knowledge base of children, she added.