500 CBE Cycle Five Pupils Graduated in Bawku West District-UE

Some of the beneficiary of the CBE project holding their certificates

About 500 out of school- going-age children in some communities in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region  who have received basic  numeracy and literacy skills training  are to be enrolled into the formal educational system come  this year September, 2018 academic year.

 The Project dubbed”, Complementary Basic Education (CBEs )”,  is being implemented by  the Link Community Development Ghana ( LCDG) , a local NGO based in the Upper East Region with funding support from the  United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department For International Development (DFID).

 Under the CBE system, out-of-school children   in the various communities shepherding cattle and other household chores are moped up and trained for nine months in numeracy and literacy skills using their mother tongue and deploy to the formal school system.

The mainstreaming of the 500 out of school- going-age children in the District into the formal education sector this academic year would bring the total of such children to 3750 since the inception of the project in 2014-2015 in the district.

In an interview with GBC online during the graduation ceremony of the beneficiaries at Zebilla in the Bawku West District,  the Desk Officer of  the CBE in charge of  the District, Ms Alhassan Addisah Kuberah,  said the fifth  cycle of the CBE this term was  made up of 20 satellites classes in the respective communities, with an enrollment figure  of 25 pupils mostly 10 boys and 15 girls in each class, handled by one facilitator selected from the community.

She indicated that the, programme has made a lot impact in the district by creating the enabling environment for children who would have been left out of school.

“Such children would have remained in the communities and grow up to become a burden in society”, she emphasized.

In an address read on behalf the District Director  of Education, Mrs  Cecilia Assibi Sumaila, she disclosed that there are still about 2,900  of such children  in the communities who were not in school and needed equal attention.

She, therefore, appealed to the Bawku West District Assembly and all stakeholders to support the programme by bringing those ones on board.

The Project Manager of LCDG, Mr  Joachim Faara, stated that the goal of his outfit  was  to ensure that every vulnerable  child was  in school, hence their effort at supporting the Ghana Education Service to  achieve that objective.

He expressed appreciation to the District Director of Education, the community members and the facilitators especially for the sacrifices they made in the training of  the children.

A bicycle each was given to the 20 twenty facilitators by LCDG for their effort.

Story by: GBC's Emmanuel Akayeti