body-container-line-1
12.10.2013 Education

ActionAid implements functional literacy programme

12.10.2013 LISTEN
By Daily Graphic

The programme, which is being implemented by ActionAid, with support from the Ministry of Education and the Department for International Development (DFID), at the cost of £120,000, is known as the Complementary Basic Education (CBE). It aims at equipping the beneficiaries with the necessary orientation and literacy skills to enable them enter formal school. It is envisaged that at the end of the nine-month period, the beneficiary children would be able to read, write and do simple calculations which would qualify them into the formal school.

As part of the processes towards rolling out the programme, 92 facilitators have undergone a 15-day training workshop to equip them for the job.

Addressing the facilitators at the end of the workshop in Tamale, the CBE Project Manager of ActionAid, Mr Alhassan Sulemana, said the initiative by his outfit was to complement efforts of the Ministry of Education to reach out to 120,000 children across the country under the CBE.

According to him, the programme was community-owned and demand-driven, with an objective of providing disadvantaged children the opportunity to have full-cycle basic education.

Mr Sulemana stated that the facilitators, made up of 19 females and 73 males, would be teaching in languages such as Dagbani, Likpakpaaln and Twi.

He, further, explained that the training for the facilitators covered topics on life skills such as gender sensitive ways of teaching, HIV and AIDS, roles and responsibilities of facilitators, supervisors and committee members. They were also taugh

He cautioned the facilitators against complacency, saying; 'the project  is intended to create an opportunity for you to study hard whiles teaching so that you can pursue further education."

The Programme Manager of ActionAid in Tamale, Madam Esther Boateng, noted that the CBE was another form of strategy adopted by her outfit to get more children into school, thereby curbing the vicious cycle of poverty in rural communities.

She entreated the facilitators to be committed in their work, as a way of contributing to the development of their respective communities.

The Course Prefect, Musah Salifu, described the programme as timely, and pledged on behalf of his colleagues to put in their best.

By Vincent Amenuveve/Daily Graphic/Ghana

body-container-line