<<Print>>

World Vision Ghana in collaboration with Open Learning Exchange (OLE) Ghana is currently implementing Ghana Reads programme, a novelty with the aim of salvaging the low literacy levels among basic school goers in the country. More than 40 per cent of pupils in primary three and 31 per cent in primary six perform below minimum competency, Mr. Kofi Essien, the Director of OLE Ghana, has revealed. Citing the 2013 Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and National Education Assessment (NEA) report , Mr. Essien in an interview with media men observed that many pupils in primary six also struggle to read and write even after five years of education. This, he said, was an indication that getting pupils in the classroom alone was not enough to improve basic education in the country, but also adopting new teaching methods that make learning pleasurable to children. �Children like to play games and do more of activities they find fun and interesting. Doing more and more of these activities turn them into habits. Why don�t we then make learning fun for them so that they would want to learn more and, in the process, make learning a habit?,� he questioned. He said there was enough evidence to also show that the children were not the problem but the educational system �that needs to ask itself certain �hard� questions.� One such question, he indicated, centered on what the system needed to do differently to make learning an enjoyable experience for the learner: to get him or her to want to learn and to learn more and to learn always, voluntarily!� He noted that in finding answers to challenges plaguing the system, there was the need to concentrate attention on teachers and the support provided them within the social milieu that learning takes place, �which has a bearing on the how and the what of the learning.� Mr. Essien suggested the adoption of such models as Open Learning Exchange (OLE) Ghana�s Ghana Reads programme (which is currently being piloted in 28 schools) to make learning easier and pleasurable for children, to improve basic education in the country. He explained that OLE Ghana�s Ghana Reads programme sought to develop a learning model for universal literacy for all Ghanaian children through the introduction of new ways of learning �that involve the use of affordable technology tools that support small learning teams with pupils interacting with quality resources found on a Raspberry Pi server which houses the OLE Basic eLearning Library (BeLL).� He added that the Ghana Reads project aims to provide low-cost, hand-held technologies to school children backed by effective pedagogy and teacher support strategies in order to increase access to high quality, interactive learning resources in the classroom. With this, he assured, �pupils climb their own personal learning ladders with help from fellow team members and teachers who are being coached and themselves learning how to coach.� He said OLE Ghana aimed to �bait� the children to stay in school and to learn, as well as provide continuous support for the teachers �to enable them develop love for profession, love for the children they teach and the requisite skills to deliver.� Mr Essien said that it was in a bid to ensure these, that OLE Ghana was currently being supported by World Vision Ghana to try OLE Ghana�s new ways and do things differently towards addressing challenges facing educational delivery. The partnership he said has since 2013 yielded positive results. Currently, OLE Ghana has deployed the Ghana Reads programme in four World Vision Area Development Programmes (ADPs) namely Afram Plains, Kintampo South, Anyima Amansi and Sekyere East districts. Mr. Essien seized the occasion to commend World Vision for the support and he expressed optimism that it would go a long way to improve education in the country. World Vision works towards a world where every child experiences life in all its fullness; where they are protected, cared for and given the opportunities to become all God meant them to be; where they grow strong in communities free of need and full of promise; Where families are valued, the environment preserved and the most vulnerable live in security and confidence; where they become responsible citizens of well led nations. Where peace and justice reign and all have the right to contribute; where they flourish in a world where the treasure of our hearts and the measure of our wealth is the happiness and wellbeing of all children.