Little Explorers School Gets International Accreditation

The first batch of nine Montessori teacher trainees have graduated from the Ghana Montessori International Teacher Training Centre (GMI) at Cantonments in Accra.

At the ceremony, the Little Explorers Montessori Plus School, which houses the GMI, was also presented with an accreditation by the Montessori Centre International of the United Kingdom.

The nine teachers who graduated from GMI were presented with certificates after their training. They are: Fuen Pardo, Cynthia Annoh, Ania Judson, Devyani Bhatia, Sahar El-Khaldi, Sarah Craig, Eunice Mensah, Neha Chugh and Rana Torbay.

Speaking at the event, the Director of Ghana Montessori International Training Centre, Mrs Kamilla Kirpalani, said the aim of the centre established a year ago, was to spread a deep understanding of how to support children during their formative years.

She said the graduates produced the highest score marks worldwide, and “we are very proud and confident that they will become fine practitioners”.

She announced the formation of the West African Montessori Association, a non-profit organisation charged with creating a forum on best practices.

The Director of Little Explorers Montessori, Mrs Karine McVeigh, said the objective of the set up was to give children in their early years an environment conducive for learning and fulfilling their potential.

In an address read on her behalf, the Deputy Minister of Education, Mrs Elizabeth Amoah-Tetteh, said the Montessori system had now been recognised worldwide as the best method to bring up confident, balanced and competent children.

As part of the accreditation process, she said, the academic director of Montessori International Centre spent some days at the school to observe the children and teachers, “also dissecting our systems and procedures”.

The Ministry of Education, he said, would continue to support any initiative that recognised and enhanced the potential of children.