Link Community Integrates Over 800 Children Into Mainstream Education

A total of 436 “Out of School Children” in some deprived communities in the Kassena-Nankana West District in the Upper East Region, have suceessfully graduated and will be intergrated into some primary schools in the District.

The children, most of whom have never been to school, were taken through the Complementary Basic Education under the Ghana Education Service for nine months and were taught in their mother tongues languages to aid easy understanding of basic numeracy and literacy.

The Kassena-Nankana West District had a total of 18 deprived communities selected to participate in the Complementary Basic Education under the supervision of LINK Community Development. Out of the 450 children who formed this batch, only 14 dropped out before the graduation and intergration ceremony in the various communities.

LINK Community Development over the past two years, has supervised the training and integration of hundreds of out of school children into mainstream schools and ensured that, they continued to stay in school in the Kassena-Nankana West and Bawku West Districts.

At the Kayoro-Wuru Community, all the 25 children who started the programme stayed through and will be attending the Kayoro-Wuru Primary School from the 2017/2018 Academic Year.

Community Facilitator, Achana Stephen believes his pupils will be able to match up with their colleagues, when they finally start learning under the mainstream Education system.

He commended the Kayoro-Wuru Primary School Management Committee members for their interest in the Complementary Basic Education programme and pleaded with them to make it a point to help monitor the pupils, especially the girls, to ensure that, they do not drop out of school to marry or work.

The District Complementary Basic Education Coordinator for LINK Community Development, Madam Cecilia Kyibeletu advised the children not to see themselves as inferior to other pupils they will be meeting at the mainstream when they begin the 2017/2018 academic year.

She advised the parents that witnessed the event and the elders of the Community, to prioritize the education of their children and endeavour to keep them in school, especially the girls.

“We will do our part to ensure that, your children are educated and integrated into schools. It is up to you parents and Community leaders, to ensure that, they are encouraged to learn and continue to be in school. Let’s us try to invest in our children’s education so as to curb the poverty levels in our families.”

The Chairman of the Kayoro-Wuru School Management Committee, Alhassan Abanungbawuni called on the Kassena-Nankana West District Assembly to provide more desks for the Kayoro-Wuru Primary School.

The Children at the Lower Primary either sit or lay of the bear floor to read and write during school hours. The SMC Chairman fears the children could contract diseases as a result of the cold floor.

A similar event took place in the Bawku West District, where over 400 children graduated from the Complement Basic Education programme and will also be integrated into some selected Primary Schools across the district, come the

2017/2018 Academic year.

One of the pupils receiving CBE Certificate

From: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Kayoro-Wuru