Vice President of Ghana launches VSO programme that will improve education for 50,000 children
13/05/2010 17:20:00
The Vice President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, and His Majesty the Overlord of Mamprugu joined VSO staff, volunteers and partners in Walewale, Northern Ghana, to officially launch the Tackling Education Needs Inclusively programme (TENI).
Funded by Comic Relief, TENI will improve the quality of education received by more than 50,000 children in the Jirapa, West Mamprusi and Talensi-Nabdam regions of northern Ghana. The programme is specifically focused on girls and disabled children.
TENI will work with government, community leaders, education professionals and civil society to improve the retention and performance of children in primary school. It will improve the supply and skills of teachers and work with district assemblies to improve the coordination and implementation of education initiatives. It will also address the socio-economic barriers at household and community level, and improve the livelihoods of women so they are better able to support their children to go to school.
As he officially launched the programme, Mr Mahama said:
“Quality education is the bedrock for poverty reduction and sustained development. The task of providing quality equitable and timely education for all children by 2015 is huge and requires collective effort to succeed. While the Ghana government appreciates its own interventions we are concerned that close to 800,000 children are still waiting for their right to education. To reach out to these children requires flexible and innovative means.
“VSO has been a true partner of education for over 50 years now. With the placement of high calibre international volunteers VSO has been instrumental in improving quality teaching and learning and its experience over these years has culminated in the design of this new education project whose launch we are witnessing today.”
The event was attended by school children who presented a drama depicting the challenges children face in accessing education. They told how parents, particularly fathers, were not generally supportive of girls’ education and this requires attitudinal changes and highlighted the need for government and traditional leaders to take urgent steps to tackle the migration of girls to the cities to work as porters.
Despite the Ghana government making significant investments in education in the past ten years by abolishing fees and providing grants for uniforms and resources, there are still tens of thousands of children who do not complete school and almost 30% of adults living in the northern region are illiterate. Drop-out rates are particularly high for girls who are frequently subjected to early marriage or are under pressure to earn a living or look after younger siblings or sick family members.
VSO Ghana country director, Ibrahim Tanko Amidu said at the launch:
“The presence of His Excellency the Vice President of Ghana and His Majesty the Overlord of Mamprugu sends a clear message to all of us that the present state of education in northern Ghana is unacceptable and that all hands must be on deck to ensure that children in northern Ghana are able to rub shoulders with their counterparts in other parts of Ghana.
“Whilst enrolment and gender parity rates have steadily improved at the lower primary level, this has not translated into increased retention of children, particularly girls and children with disability, in the upper primaries and junior high schools. TENI will build upon and support the efforts of the Ghana government to help ensure that all stakeholders at all levels work to address the systemic barriers to children’s access to quality education.”
TENI is expected to reach some 25,000 parents with advocacy messages, support the development of over 2000 teachers and head teachers and deploy 500 national volunteer teachers from the more affluent areas in the south to the northern regions of Ghana so they can support development in their own country.
TENI has received £3m of funding from by Comic Relief, with match-funding of £1m from VSO. Implementing partners are VSO, ProNet North, Integrated Social Development Centre, Link Community Development, National Service Scheme and the Ghana Education Service.
In addition, TENI will be working with three research institutions, two in Ghana (Center for Social Policy Studies of the University of Ghana and the Institute for Democratic Governance) and one in the UK (Institute of Education) to document and disseminate experiences and lessons from the project as a means of influencing policy and to support replication in other parts of Ghana.
The launch event was chaired by the President of the National House of Chiefs and also attended by the Northern Regional Minister, representatives from the Ghana Education Service, community leaders, including traditional women leaders and chief executives from the three project districts.
