GPEG Project improves quality education delivery Bongo District

    

A forum to ict, has been held in Bolgatanga.survey findings on Ghana partnership for education grant (GPEG) project impact on kidisseminate citizen report card survey findings on Ghana partnership for education grant (GPEG) project impact on kindergarten education delivery in Bongo District, has been held in Bolgatanga. 

The Community Development Advocacy Center (CODAC), an NGO in partnership with IBIS Ghana, commissioned the citizen Report Card (CRC) survey of public school kindergarten (KG) education service delivery in the Bongo District.

 It was to assess the impact of the GPEG project on quality of KG education, from the perspectives of service users and other key community level education stakeholders.

 The Executive Director of CODAC, Seidu Musah Akugri, said the GPEG project was funded by a Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Grant and supervised by the World Bank.  Mr Akugri said GPEG was implemented by the Ghana Education Service in 75 districts in eight out of the 10 regions from February 2013 to August 2016. 

GPEG’s objective,  he added, was to improve planning, monitoring and delivery of basic education services in deprived districts in Ghana, lay the foundation for decentralized decision making to improve service delivery which is in line with the government’s Education Stratigic Plan 2010-2020 that aims at expanding educational opportunities to disadvantaged populations. 

He said, GPEG was meant to address the widening disparities in educational outcomes between deprived districts and endowed areas. 

Mr Akugri said the project was also to handle the inconsistent capitation grant financing, low level learning outcomes, inequality access to quality education of trained teachers, weak accountability and management at school levels.  

The research conducted by the Turning Point developing Consulting in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region, reveals that there have been significant improvement of quality education delivery at the Pre-school levels than before.   

Among the key findings of the research indicates that there had been improvement in teaching and learning at the pre-school levels and the children could now read, recite poems and perform well in Mathematics and English Language, all due to the intervention of GPEG. 

Another major issue about the findings reveals that unlike before where teachers at the pre-school levels had low educational status, most of them are now  holders of Diploma and Degree in Early Childhood. 

The research pointed out that the success story of most of the teachers at that level holding diploma and degrees in Early Childhood Education to the sponsorship package provided by the intervention. 

Apart from the high level of teacher attendance to classes, there has also been an improvement in the governance systems of the School Management Committee and the Parent Teacher Association as result of the capacity building training offered by the GPEG Project intervention.  

Addressing the stakeholders at the dissemination forum, the Programme Facilitator of IBIS-Ghana, in charge of Democratic Consolidated and Accountable Government, Safiya Musa, explains IBIS-Ghana stands on GPEG and her outfit   contributions to quality education delivery in the country particularly at the Pre-School.

The dissemination forum,  which attracted stakeholders including the  representative of the Regional Director of Education  and District Directors, Traditional Rulers, Head teachers among others, established that whilst others schools had facilities such as chairs, tables and playing grounds, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene ( WASH), others  did not have. 

Mr Saaka Ismaila ,the Executive Director of the Turning Point Developing Consulting impressed upon the stakeholders to draw up advocacy programmes to lobby with the duty bearers, particularly the District Assemblies to provide the school with their needs to help improve upon quality education. 

“Early School years are a critical period for learning and development and this must not take for granted if we want our children to get good foundation and to perform well at the higher level of education”. He stressed,

The Executive Director of CODAC, Mr Seidu Musah Akugri, explained that his outfit decided to commission the research to help sustain the GPEG Project which ended in August 2016, adding the findings will help inform their decision to embark upon advocacy programmes in the Talensi, Garu-Tempane and Bongo Districts where the intervention was implemented.