Children Believe, formally known as the Christian Children Fund of Canada (CCFC), has called for the need for government and agencies to pay peculiar interest in Early Childhood Development in our country.
This was revealed in a stakeholder engagement in disseminating an Early Childhood Development (ECD) situational report and to help find lasting solutions to these challenges that were revealed in the findings.
Speaking with FiilaNews, the country programs Manager, Mrs Essenam Kavi De-Souza indicated that though ECD is the most critical stage of building a human capital for our nation, it is the least financed.
In the Ministry of Education’s budget for instance, she underscored that early childhood is the least financed which needs to be given some level of attention in the near future as it is the most critical state of development.
She referred to schools where children at the kindergarten level are pushed under makeshift structures whiles those in upper primary are those given the infrastructure for their teaching and learning in schools .
The assessment which covered five regions namely; Northern, North-East,Savanna, Upper East and Upper West Regions, and delved into areas such as Education, Health and Child Protection among others.
On his part Dr. Chrys Anab, A lecturer at the University for Development Studies and also a lead Researcher on the ECD assessment, revealed that the most worrying aspect is that teachers who qualify for Early Childhood Education rather abandon those levels and move to the upper primary to teach.
This he appealed to the GES to ensure that qualified teachers for the various stages of education are assigned where they best fit, to help develop the children at the levels of education.
Meanwhile he blamed gaps in the curriculum and none monitoring on the part of the GES, so far as early childhood education is concerned.
Source:Fiilafmonline/ShawanaYussif
