Over 20% of pupils enter school at wrong ages

Mr. Fakor Disu, the Coordinator of the Communication for Development (C4D) of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has disclosed that there are over 20 per cent of Ghanaian children that have not enrolled in kindergarten at the right age.

Speaking at a workshop for education officers and stakeholders at Kumasi on the theme, “Promoting Right Age Enrolment, Retention and Completion through Safe School Approaches and Practices,” Mr. Fakor said, notwithstanding, the immense role being played by government, through the Ministry of Education and the GES to promote education, there was still more work to be done on promoting children’s enrolment, retention and completion of school.

“It is the responsibility of all of us to support the enrolment of children at school at the right age and to ensure that the children receive the best of education.

“I must report that the current 79.5per cent net enrolment rate of children at KG is not good enough and so there is the need for us to work harder on it as education workers and stakeholders,” Mr. Fakor said.

He reiterated the need for teachers and education officers to intensify their sensitisation programmes through stakeholder meetings, community engagements and mass media so as to get all school-age children in school and to ensure that they stayed in school till completion.

Mr. Roland Takyi, an officer of the Guidance and Counselling Unit of GES, urged teachers, education workers and stakeholders to make the school a safe haven for educating children and adults alike.

Mr. Takyi said children ought to be treated well to be able to stay in school and that, “As government and development partners support us to educate the children, we, as education workers and officers, should also intensify our engagements with parents and other stakeholders to get all children in school and to enable them to complete successfully.”

Mr. Christopher Nkrumah, an official of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), assured the participants of the Fund’s resolve to continue to partner with government and relevant agencies to provide good-quality education and training to all children in the country.

It is to be noted that the 2008 Education Act 778 of Ghana requests that every Ghanaian child of age, four years, be supported to enrol in the first year of kindergarten education.