GNECC calls for accessible childhood education nationwide

The Ghana National Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has reiterated its call on stakeholders to critically look at issues affecting Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), which is the most critical period in human development.

Children constitute the future leadership and workforce of the country, therefore serious commitment is required from the adult population, particularly State institutions to ensure their proper growth and development into adulthood.

Mr Bright Appiah, Chairman, GNECC, said this at the Global Action week durbar on Early Childhood Care and Education in Accra on the theme: “Early Childhood Care Education in Ghana.”

Mr Appiah indicated that childhood care education is the focus of the coalition for this year.

He said there was the need for more financial support to be injected into early childhood education so that children could receive a better foundation for the future.

“Comprehensive and quality early childhood education could make a significant contribution to the physical, psychomotor, cognitive, social and emotional development of the child including the acquisition of languages and early literacy,” he said.

He noted that, children were active learners from birth, and the early years were vital to their success in school and later in life.

Madam Elizabeth Amoah - Tetteh, Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Pre- Tertiary stated that, the importance of ECCE could not be over emphasised since it would bring a lot of change in the country’s educational system.

She indicated that children who go through ECCE were bound to perform better in school when they grew older.

Mrs Amoah – Tetteh said, government through various Ministries, Departments and Agencies, had demonstrated its commitment to the total well being and improvement of the Ghanaian child through the development, ratification and signing of various global policy frameworks such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

She noted that, various researches have shown that if children were targeted at an early age and equipped with the requisite literacy, numeracy and creative skills, they were bound to achieve better in life.

She said government was committed to ensuring that every child attained his or her full potential at the early stages of education to contribute effectively and efficiently towards the Better Ghana Agenda.

Olga Teye -Topey, Education Programme Manager, Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), stated that, the performance of junior high school students in the Basic Education Certificate Examination was not good due to lack of good foundation.

She congratulated GNECC for its advocacy work over the years and pledged CAMFED’s assistance to rally support for the coalition.

Madam Dorothy Konadu, ActionAid Ghanam said education was paramount and could put an end to poverty hence the need for more campaign on quality education and getting everyone involved in making teaching more accessible and affordable.

The GNECC is a network of civil society organisations that is working to promote access to free quality universal basic education.

GNECC has a membership of about 200 nationwide comprising individuals and institutions, working to influence policies, practices and resources in favour of quality education.**