Hundreds graduate from Action Aid CBE programme 

A total of 494 school-going age children in the Tain district of Brong-Ahafo Region who could not gain access formal education have benefited from a Complimentary Basic Education (CBE) programme.

 

This would enable them to enroll into basic school in the next academic year.

 

The children comprise of 216 girls and 278 boys between ages eight and 14, and were drawn from 16 communities in the district.

 

After successfully going through a nine-month training in English and Mathematics, the children are expected to be enrolled into the mainstream sector in September.

 

The CBE is an educational intervention programme introduced and funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

Action Aid Ghana (AAG), a non-governmental organisation is implementing the circle five of the CBE in the Tain District.

 

Madam Barbara Okine Mensah, the CBE Project Coordinator, said many of the beneficiaries were picked from the streets and urged their parents to ensure that the children were enrolled and retained in school.

 

This, she said, could be possible if the parents provided them with the basic learning, materials to sustain their interest in schools.

 

Speaking at a graduation ceremony at Nsawkaw, the district capital, Madam Mensah expressed appreciation to the teacher volunteers and facilitators and all stakeholders who supported the project.

 

She said the proper upbringing and development of children was a collective and shared responsibility and pleaded with traditional authorities, teachers and Assembly members to support the children to access basic education.

 

Mrs Comfort Manu, the Tain District Girl Child Coordinator, expressed discomfort with the increasing trend of teenage pregnancy which is impeding girl child education in the area.

 

She urged parents to be mindful of movements of their girl child, draw them closer and provide them with their basic needs.

 

Mr Nuhu Abudu, the Deputy Planning Officer of the Tain District Assembly, said lack of educational infrastructure remains a major problem hindering the growth of education in the area.

 

He said though the District Assembly was working hard to address the infrastructure shortfall in the district, there was the need for NGOs and civil society organisations to support it.

 

The children and their teachers and facilitators of the programme were presented with certificates.

 

Source: GNA