A total of 725 out-of-school learners in the Builsa-North Municipality of the Upper East Region, have transitioned to the formal school system.
This follows nine-months of intensive teaching and learning in literacy and numeracy in their mother tongues.
The learners benefited from the Communities of Excellence Programme being implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), AfriKids Ghana and the Ghana Education Service (GES).
This came to light when a team from UNICEF and it’s partners visited the area to assess the impact of the Communities of Excellence Programme in the municipality.
Mr Silas Ayaaba, Programmes Coordinator, AfriKids Ghana, during the visit, said the programme, which began in April, 2023, was designed for out-of-school children between the ages of nine to 14 years.
He said the programme, which initially targeted about 625 children, ended up enrolling 725 of them, which showed that communities embraced the initiative.
Madam Victoria Mahama Aganalie, Builsa-North Municipal Director of Education, described the programme as timely, saying it had contributed to bridging the illiteracy gap in the municipality as well as expanded access to education for children, who were out-of-school.
She commended UNICEF and partners for the initiative and said it would go a long way to enhance the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (4) that sought to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.
Master Stephen Atampoi, a 14 year-old pupil of Kalijisa Junior High School in the Municipality, who is a beneficiary of the initiative, said the programme had helped to sustain his passion to go to school and become a medical doctor in future.
He said: “I was withdrawn from school after the death of my father but because of the programme, I’m back to school working hard towards achieving my goals.”
