The Government of Ghana with support from the UK Government launches Complementary Basic Education (CBE) Programme
The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service are receiving support from the UK Government through its Department for International Development (DFID) to implement the CBE programme to enrol 120,000 out-of-school children over the next three years (2012-2015).
The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service are receiving support from the UK Government through its Department for International Development (DFID) to implement the CBE programme to enrol 120,000 out-of-school children over the next three years (2012-2015). The Complementary Basic Education (CBE) is a ground-breaking and accelerated approach that teaches disadvantaged children how to read, write and become numerate in a nine-month period. The CBE programme which is targeted at out-of-school children so they can eventually enter primary school at class 3 or 4. In year one, the programme will target 25,000 children, beginning this month of October, across four regions of the country: Upper East, Upper West, Northern, and Brong Ahafo. Therefore 1,000 CBE classes will be available across the 35 target districts.
DFID Country Director Sally Taylor,at the launch said “UK’s development assistance in Ghana has a strong focus on education including achieving the Millennium Development Goals on universal access to basic education and gender equality. I am therefore pleased to be involved in another important step towards ensuring that every Ghanaian child gets an opportunity to go to school and become the people they have the potential to be”.
The CBE programme demonstrates strong retention and completion rates: typically, about 90 per cent of learners graduate from the nine-month classes; and 70-80 per cent go on to attend primary school. The Ministry of Education found that at least 3 per cent increase in basic school enrolment across the country was due to the effectiveness of complementary basic education. CBE is also giving more girls the opportunity to attend school.
The National CBE launch in Kintampo was attended by the Minister of Education Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, the DFID Ghana Country Director Sally Taylor, other key Government officials and international and local dignitaries.