The Complementary Education Agency of the Ministry of Education, is set to roll out a new campaign eliminating illiteracy in the country ahead of the 2030 deadline set under the Sustainable Development Goal.
As part of the measures, designated officials will comb through communities for persons who have dropped out of school. The Agency will also focus on children who have not had education at all to offer them free education.
Speaking in an interview, Head of Communications at the Agency for Accra Metro, Priscilla Awimbe Kusaah, revealed that it has become imperative for government to address the growing number of drop-outs in the country.
“The Ministry realized that when it comes to education the informal sector is lacking… So, they decided to add another task to the non-formal education, now Complementary Education Agency, for us to take the mandate of making sure that non-literate youth… between the age of six to SHS level will get education through the complimentary basic education”.
Priscilla Awimbe Kusaah
Implementation of strategies for school program
According to her, as part of strategies, the Agency will petition assembly men, chiefs and relevant stakeholders in the communities to help “identify” persons to enrol in “our program”.
She further revealed that so far, they’ve had “the opportunity to engage some of the learners” as well.
“Our division has something we call the community entry system, where we enter the communities and talk to the opinion leaders”.
Priscilla Awimbe Kusaah
Furthermore, Madam Kusaah revealed that per engagement “the response has been very positive”.
“We’ve started identifying those who have not been to school at all and are of school going age. And those who have dropped out from the former schools”.
Priscilla Awimbe Kusaah
Miss Kusaah noted that the program will commence in October and focus on kindergarten and SHS children.
“We are going to do it all over the country. Non-formal education… is everywhere in the country. So, every district has been tasked to make sure they enter the communities and engage the leaders to be able to identify them.
“We have three levels. So, when we take them through for the nine months process, after, we assess them to see the level in which they fit into. Then, we push them to GES. So, we are liaising with GES and it is their curriculum we are using”.
Priscilla Awimbe Kusaah
Priority areas for program execution
Touching on the priority areas her outfit will focus on with the rollout of the program, she explained that the target is “the rural areas”. However, some communities in the capital are equally bereft of the opportunities to acquire basic education.
As such, the agency will ensure such children are roped in to enrol in the various programs by the Agency.
“Even in Accra we have areas that people are lagging behind. So, I am for the AMA district and we’ve started, so it’s all over.
“The goal is to equip them to be able to fit into any level they supposed to be in. As I said earlier on, we have three level. So, when we go into the communities, we assess the learners we get and get to know where they fall short… then we know where to place them and take them through the program”.
Priscilla Awimbe Kusaah
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