By: Joyce Kantam Kolamong
About 6,255 Out-Of-School children under the Complemetary Basic Education, CBE, programme, will transition into formal education this September in the Northern Region.
The programme, facilitated by School for Life, an NGO, under the Ghana Education Outcome Project, GEOP, will see a total of 3,572 males and 2,683 females transition into basic 3 and 4 to begin their educational journeys. This follows the completion of a nine month intensive training for the 2024/2025 CBE year in their basic mother tongue, Dagbani, in literacy and numeracy skills.
In an interview with GBCNews in Tamale, Director of School for Life, Wedad Sayibu, said about 45 to 48 percent of the children are girls and her outfit is happy to be associated with the milestone.
Through the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) programme, School for Life has reached over 450,000 children since 1995, offering them a second chance at education.
The programme prioritizes girls and targets the most vulnerable, providing them with foundational literacy and numeracy skills. In the last three years, School for Life, through its complementary basic education programme has provided a second chance to about 7000 out of school children of which 45 to 48 percent are girls.
It operates in communities across the Savelugu, Nanton, Kumbungu, and Tolon districts of the Northern Region.
According to the Director of School for Life, Wedad Sayibu, the organization sees girls education as an integral part of its core mandate and hence its deliberate efforts to get more girls into the CBE programme.
“Approximately about an average of 45 to 48 percent of the total out of school enrollment are girls, which is significant..Girls have layers of vulnerability that make their circumstances even more dire. For our programme we give more priorities to girls and the CBE and it’s impact it has made over the years excites us”, she noted.
Mrs Sayibu said through the effort of School for Life, the govenment has established the Complementary Basic Education Agency to support in the programme and school for life is excited to be associated with that achievement.
“Our efforts in mobilizing other civil society organizations and individuals alike into what we call the CBE Alliance, who are actually championing the cause of CBE programme, looking at how we have championed the processes of the government to recognize the model and to accept it. And today, we are celebrating a significant milestone in that endeavor, whereby the government, beyond just recognizing it, has set up a whole new agency to support, to oversee and coordinate the activities of the CBE programme and other complementary education agencies. And for us, this is all it means to the work of civil society. You start something that is impactful and invite the government to take it up, and they do so to expand the scale, to reach out to so many other children that maybe as an individual organization we could not have reached”
The Director called on stakeholders and the government to continue to support the CBE programme, which requires significant resources to deliver. She emphasized the importance of leaving no child behind and urges everyone to support the CBE program to provide access to basic education for all.
“The need for the programme is still ever more relevant than ever because we still have so many children who have fallen through the cracks of the former school system, and some who have never been to school because of some socio-economic challenges and factors, it means that our work is far from done..The agency has been set up, but it requires some investment to make it really up to task in discharging the mandate that it has been given. So for us, we will call on stakeholders and the government to continue to renew its commitment in providing support to the implementation of the CBE programme to benefit so many children who really deserve the programme”
The CBE programme has been life-changing for many children, enabling them to transition into mainstream education and pursue their dreams. Many beneficiaries have gone on to become professionals in various fields, including PhD holders, civil servants, and entrepreneurs.
Mrs. Sayibu said the programme’s impact extends beyond individual beneficiaries, as it has also contributed to the development of a community of alumni who are committed to giving back to their communities.
“These beneficiaries who are now professionals in various fields, have now decided to come together as an alumni to mobilize resources. And by resources, we are not just talking about material resources, resources in the nature of technical resources, material, financial, to also give back to their communities. They recognize that there are still so many children who are out there in similar circumstances that they were in some few years ago, for which reason, we find it compelling to support these children with opportunities that their network can leverage to support the work of School for Life, to continue to roll out this life-changing program. And for us, we could not have been prouder”
She expressed joy in being part of the children’s educational journey, emphasizing the importance of inclusive education
