School for Life meets DAs and GES officials on CBE Learners integration

By: Communications and Advocacy Officer

School for Life has conducted stakeholder meetings with officials of the District Assemblies and the Ghana Education Service. The meetings are held with the District Chief Executives and District Directors of Education, GES/SfL Desk Officers and other Officials of the DAs and GES in all districts implementing the Ghana Complementary Basic Education Programme. Following successful graduation of learners who were enrolled in the first cycle of the Programme, it became necessary for SfL to take steps towards getting these learners to smoothly integrate into the formal schools. Indeed, the ultimate aim of the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) Programme is to get out-of-school children into formal school. This is done by getting the children enrolled into the programme, and when they have sufficiently attained proficiency in numeracy and literacy, they are transitioned into regular formal school. In line with the Programme intent, the CBE Management unit organized Regional level workshops with these stakeholders to develop strategies for the smooth integration of the learners.

Following the CBE Management Unit organized workshops, SfL held initial district level meetings with the District Assemblies and the Ghana Education Service in all implementing districts to further develop and sharpen strategies towards making them district specific.  This will ensure that the strategies are fine-tuned towards addressing challenges and needs of each district.

Outputs of the field meetings with the DAs and GES were further used as inputs in a meeting held today with the GES/SfL Desk Officers of CBE implementing districts.

In this meeting, the Desk Officers elaborated further on the strategies and assigned responsibilities and time schedules to the strategies. They were also provided orientation on the use of the placement test tools for integrating the CBE learners. This provided them insight into how to conduct the placement of the learners when school resumes. Officers understood and appreciated the placement test tools. This will guide them to better conduct the testing and integrate the learners in classes of the formal school based on their proficiency levels.

Having established shared agreements and understanding with the DAs and GES, it is expected that the learners will experience incident free integration into formal schools. The Integration of Learners is crucial in ensuring that these hitherto out-of-school children are granted their full right to basic education in Ghana.

GRADUATION OF CBE LEARNERS FOR THE 2013/2014 CYCLE ON-GOING

By: Abdul-Mumin Ahmed, C&AO, School for Life

The Complementary Basic Education (CBE) Programme being operated by School for Life with funding from DANIDA, DFID and UNICEF in fourteen (14) Districts in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions is at its climax for the 2013/2014 cycle. The current cycle of the Programme has benefited about 15,000 out-of-school children. These children have successfully passed through nine-month tutelage in their mother-tongue and are sufficiently able to read, write and do basic arithmetic with the help of an untrained teacher called a “Facilitator”.

As a best practice of School for Life, graduation ceremonies are usually organized for children who are successful in acquiring required proficiency in literacy and numeracy, having been through the nine-month cycle of instruction. The graduation ceremony is done yearly in every community that has a CBE class to serve a number of purposes:

1. To mark the end of SfL’s engagement with children, in terms of providing a promenade for teaching and learning;
2. Provide a platform for public assessment of learners by GES officials who support in integrating learners into formal school;
3. To contribute to building confidence in the learners; and
4. To avail an opportunity where parents meet and discuss among themselves, with SfL and with GES Officials on options available for integrating CBE learners into formal school, the need to invest in the education of children and the role of parents in the education of their wards.

These Graduation ceremonies have been successfully organized in all communities in which the CBE programme operates with funding from DANIDA and DFID. This is currently ongoing in the programme communities funded by UNICEF in the Savelugu/Nanton District.
   

CBE Learners being publicly assessed in the Tolon District

This year’s edition of Learners’ graduation was marked by mixed feelings of happiness and nostalgia in the faces of the enthusiastic learners and a sense of disappointment in the eyes of SfL Staff, GES Officials and chiefs and Parents of Learners. Learners who were being graduated were excited of being able to read and write after only nine months of CBE classes and were particularly happy that they were now able to go to school. Some GES Officials were surprised that these learners after only 9 months of instruction were able to do additions and subtractions with renaming (carry over and borrowing respectively), considering that some pupils in primary school are unable to do these arithmetic.

Learners Hymning Praises of SfL in the Graduation at Katanga Community in the East Gonja District

SfL Staff, GES Officials, Chiefs and Parents of Learners could not withhold their joy, realizing that these zealous learners who were fervently making efforts to be in school may never have had this opportunity of attaining literacy and getting to school, but for the CBE intervention. However, Parents were disappointed to hear that SfL will no longer deliver CBE in their communities. The SfL Programme is withdrawing services from some communities due to a shift in the strategic focus of DANIDA funding from service delivery to advocacy. In these mix feelings, Parents took time to thank SfL for the intervention that has seen their children go to school.

Parents pleading with GES to take steps to integrate learners into formal school

Having successfully made learners literate in their mother-tongue, SfL is continuously making efforts to support GES to get these children into formal schools so that they are granted the opportunity of attaining the highest level of education they are capable of. To this effect, Chiefs and Parents are encouraged not to relent in their efforts at sending children to school. GES and District Assemblies are also encouraged to provide central schools that can take care of pupils from a number of nearby communities. These efforts are necessary in ensuring that every child enjoys his right to basic education in Ghana. 

MER Monitoring Visit by GV Secretariat and SfL Committee in Denmark to SfL Ghana in Tamale

By: Abdul-Mumin, C&AO, School for Life

School for Life had an in office workshop on Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) with the Monitoring Team from Denmark, consisting of the SfL Committee in Denmark (Dorte and Inge-Lis) and the GV Secretariat (Inger). The workshop effectively built the capacity of SfL Staff and Management and the Technical Committtee, as well as the E4L Programme Coordinator and Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Documentation officer (MERO) to better do monitoring, evaluation, reporting and proper documentation of changes the SfL Programme is contributing to. The Monitoring Team assisted SfL to do a self assessment of the 2013 Annual Report, with attention paid to the Milestone matrix and special emphasis and analysis made of the reflections vis-à-vis the set indicators and results chalked for the reporting period. Participants in the workshop were better resourced with key tools such as the Impact Ladder and the Action Learning Cycle, which were understood as very crucial tools for conducting proper monitoring, evaluation, reporting and documentation. The workshop started on the 26^th May 2014 to the 28^th May 2014. On the 27^th May 2014, a member of the Monitoring Team made a field visit to the Demonstration School at Gbulahagu and held discussions with the Head Teacher and the Local Committee members.  Debriefing from the field was done on the 28^th May 2014. The Team held bilateral discussions with SfL Management on the 29^th May 2014 and concluded the monitoring visit on May, 30 with a debriefing session at the GDCA office.

Inge-Lis (a member of the Monitoring Team) Debriefing Management and Staff on Field Visit to the SfL Demonstration School

SfL Management, Staff and the Technical Committee alike were very thankful and appreciative of the efforts by the Team that lead to enhancement in the capacity of SfL in doing proper reporting and documentation of changes. During the workshop, a participant shared, “It is only today, I have gotten to know that cost effectiveness is not only limited to the economic considerations of procuring goods at a lower cost from one place compared to the other, but also the most quality of output yielded from inputs”. Indeed, SfL is making efforts to sustain the benefits and lessons learnt from the MER workshop, by holding sessions within the office to apply what was learnt and do some more reflections and analysis of the 2013 Annual report. The MER workshop has placed SfL in a more formidable state to doing better and improved monitoring, evaluation, reporting and documentation of real changes the programme contributes to.

GCBE HOLDS A REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON CBE LEARNERS INTEGRATION INTO FORMAL SCHOOLS

By: Abdul-Mumin Ahmed, Communications Officer

The Management Unit, of the Ghana Complementary Basic Education Programme, organized a regional workshop in Tamale on ensuring smooth transition and successful integration of the CBE learners into the formal primary schools. The workshop which took place on the 19^th of May 2014, and had the attendance of District Chief Executives, District Coordinating Directors and the District Directors of Education in the CBE beneficiary Districts, as well as Implementing Partners of the CBE Programme, was necessary, following the eight months implementation of the programme into the first cycle. Having implemented CBE in deprived districts for close to the end of the first cycle, it become very important for stakeholders to meet and discuss on how to get learners who will be graduating and will be integrated into the formal school system by September, 2014.

The Ghana Complementary Basic Education (GCBE) Programme is a nation-wide programme that provides complementary education in the mother tongue to out-of-school children within the ages of 8 and 14 years in underserved and hard to reach communities in Ghana for a nine month cycle. With the support of the Department for International Development (DFID), the Government of Ghana partners with key Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and other education stakeholders to implement complementary education in targeted districts in Ghana. DFID is sponsoring the programme for the initial three years (2013 to 2016) with the aim that the Government of Ghana will take over sponsorship of the programme after 2016. Preparations towards implementation of GCBE for the first cycle started in October 2013 in 32 districts in Northern, Upper East, Upper West and the Brong Ahafo Regions. Evidence from implementation of the programme by SfL, where it gains its root from reveals that out-of-school children after undergoing this cycle of training, becomes functionally literate in numeracy and literacy and are able to join at least primary 3 of the formal school.

Coming to the end of the first cycle, it becomes an overwhelming issue of concern to stakeholders on how to ensure that these learners do not graduate from the CBE programme and become school drop outs, as a good number of the communities do not still have access to formal schools.  Stakeholders deliberated at length on the many barriers that potentially could bar learners from getting integrated into school. Notable among the identified barriers included; socio-cultural demand side barriers, child labour, household migration, long distances to schools in most deprived communities and inadequate teachers and school infrastructure. For example, a total of 932 communities comprising of 176 CBE classes have no access to primary schools within a 3km radius and over 4,573 learners do not have access to primary schools within a 5km radius. In view of the barriers to transition of learners into regular classrooms, participants of the workshop, worked in groups and devised short term pragmatic strategies to smoothen successful integration of learners into formal schools. Some short term strategies such as providing learners with support services such as bicycles to aid transportation, provision of needy students’ scholarship to deprived CBE learners and enrolment campaigns and awareness creation among parents on issues of transition and integration were identified as key short term practical strategies that will be used by districts to ensure that the education of the CBE learners does not end after the CBE programme. It is thus, envisioned that implementation of these strategies by educational actors in the districts will result in complete integration of all CBE learners into regular classrooms. This is ultimately directed towards ensuring that all out-of-school children have the opportunity of attaining the highest level of education they are capable of achieving.

RCC, School for Life and IBIS holds Northern Regional Education Forum

By: Abdul-Mumin Ahmed

School for Life and IBIS are non-governmental organizations in the northern region that works to improve access to relevant quality basic education in northern Ghana. The two organizations after critically analyzing BECE results of schools in the region realized that the region has consistently been the worst performing region in the country for the past three years. While 51.86 percent of students who sat for the BECE in Ghana had aggregate 6-30, only 10 percent had the equivalent pass grades in district such as Savelugu, East Gonja, West Gonja and Saboba districts, all in the Northern region. The region resultantly had the number of pupils who failed the examination, exceeding the number that passed the exams. The abysmal performance of pupils in the basic certificate exams prompted the need for an educational forum that will bring together all key stakeholders in education delivery within the region to discuss on the issue and find ways of improving the performance of pupils and schools at the basic level in the region.

The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru addressing participants at the just ended Educational Forum

Discussions on the issue between School for Life and IBIS on one hand and Regional Coordinating Council and GES on the other hand lead to a fruitful collaboration in the organization of the forum

The forum brought together the Northern Regional Minister, the Regional Director of Education, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, the District Coordinating Directors, the Presiding Members, District Directors of Education, Chiefs and Civil Socity Organizations of districts within the region.

Chiefs addressing pertinent issues in the forum

These identified key stakeholders met and deliberated extensively on the current developmental challenges confronting the education sector in the region and came out with strategies to address the challenges. Among strategies that will be used by districts to improve performance at the basic level include:

1. Monitoring of Schools and Teachers to be taken up as part of MMDCE’s roles,

1.  SMCs/PTA should and will be encouraged to monitor Teachers in schools in their various communities,

1. Organization of regular quiz and reading competitions among students, schools and circuits,

1. Regular reshuffling of teachers and

1. Regular record keeping of Teachers presence and lessons delivery in schools by Head Teachers

Outcomes of the forum is expected to effectively contribute towards improvement academic performance in basic schools in the region.

SCHOOL FOR LIFE COLLABORATES WITH IBIS, RCC AND GES TO HOLD A NORTHERN REGIONAL EDUCATION FORUM

By: Abdul-Mumin Ahmed, Communications and Advocacy Officer, SfL

School for Life (SfL) is a non-governmental organization in Northern Ghana that works to strengthen civil society’s role in improving access to relevant quality education by functioning as lead organization in delivering, demonstrating and advocating for mother-tongue based complementary basic education in underserved areas of Ghana. 

In line with SfL’s mission of working to improve quality basic education in Ghana, the organization is partnering with IBIS Ghana, the Northern Regional Coordinating Council and the Northern Regional Directorate of Education to organize a two day forum on education. The forum which is slated for April 28th and 29th 2014 is aimed at providing education stakeholders in the region the platform to deliberate on the current developmental challenges confronting the education sector in Northern Region, and come out with workable solutions to surmount the identified challenges. The forum will also afford the public the opportunity to discuss the utilization of donor funds and the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant in particular. This is ultimately meant to assess the impact of the donor funds on performance at the basic education level in Northern Region and to come out with more effective ways of utilizing the funds to better education delivery and performance at the basic level.

To this effect, districts are selected to make presentations on the progress of basic education in their respective districts in the past three years. Importantly, sub-themes bothering on Teachers supply and distribution, Pupil-Teacher contact hours, Girl child education and Education finance sources and utilization will be identified and groups formed around them for discussions. Key solutions and strategies identified will pave way for district-specific action plans which will be monitored by the Regional Coordinating Council.

Stand by for more details from the Forum…

GES DIRECTOR SHEDS TEARS OF JOY DURING A UNICEF REVIEW MEETING

By: Issahaku Ibrahim, CBE Coordinator, Savelugu District

The Director of Education for Komenda, Edina, Abirem and Aguafo (KEEA) District, Mr. Gabriel K. Gademor shed tears during a UNICEF review meeting in Tamale.  The two days review meeting was held at the Arewa Sunshine hotel in Tamale on Tuesday February 25 and Wednesday February 26, 2014. 

The meeting was the first of its kind to be organized by UNICEF under the UNICEF-sponsored CBE programme and brought together officials of UNICEF, School for Life Management, Directors of Education, National Service Coordinators and District Coordinators of the CBE program. The purpose of the event was to bring together key actors of the UNICEF-sponsored Complementary Basic Education (CBE) programme in the country to review implementation of the Program and the way forward.

As part of the 2 days programme, the group undertook a field visit to a CBE class at Jenjorikukuo, a community 6   Kilometers south-east of Savelugu, the District Capital. In presenting his report of the field visit at a plenary session, Mr. Gabriel K. Gademor shed tears over what he described as great and incredible performance of children who after only 4 months of literacy lessons were able to recognize 3 letter words, read and do simple arithmetics. He was particularly overwhelmed by the ability of the children to pronounce and write unknown words and names including his name which was not familiar in the children’s setting.  

The Director fumed with anger comparing the output of regular classroom teachers in his district to the CBE Facilitators, who are not trained teachers and are not paid salaries.  He lamented that unlike Facilitators, some teachers in the formal schools with all the monthly salaries and logistics could not teach children up to class 6 to read and pronounce 4 letter words.

The CBE model, He concluded is a huge success even though the nine month cycle is yet to be completed. This and many others go a long way to confirm how effective the Ghana Complementary Basic Education Programme is in making children literate after only nine months of instruction.