Preschool education needs reset
Recently, the Daily Graphic reported on the plight of Kindergarten (KG) pupils in some public schools in the Bono Region, where the pupils go through their daily lessons without adequate teaching and learning materials such as toys, pictures, information books and children’s literature with lots of illustrations to give clues to unfamiliar words.
The pupils are said to be learning under dilapidated structures, exposing them to danger and bad weather conditions.
In some of the communities in the region, the pupils study in uncompleted classroom blocks, while others study in structures without good windows, compelling the authorities of the schools to close some of them with pieces of lumber.
When it rains with storms, water passes through the windows into the classrooms to disrupt teaching and learning.
The picture painted from the Bono Region sums up the sad situation of preschool education, especially in the rural areas of the country.
Indeed, the situation in the Bono Region is not an isolated case; in most rural areas, preschool pupils learn under trying circumstances.
Yet preschool, which is a formative stage of the Ghanaian child’s educational journey, was incorporated into formal education and made part of basic education by the government in 2007 to ensure that pupils are introduced to formal education at that formative stage of their development.
The Daily Graphic is worried that learners at that formative stage should not be subjected to such harsh conditions.
Ordinarily, KG education must provide such children with the appropriate infrastructure and adequate teaching and learning materials to give them the requisite skills, knowledge and competencies needed to prepare them to move into the formal education space.
That is why the Daily Graphic endorses the effort of the government through the Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, to reprioritise basic education, particularly foundation learning.
This is in recognition of the fact that foundational learning is key to future success, not just academic success, but the personal and professional development of the young ones.
The truth is that if the child gets it right by age six, that child’s educational progression can easily be predicted by age 18, when the child would have begun tertiary education.
Therefore, a well-equipped preschool education in a country is a catalyst for a stronger take-off on the educational ladder for the transformation agenda.
The sad situation in the Bono Region is the naked reality that the managers of education in the country need to relook and, indeed, redouble efforts at the foundation level because, just as it is with structures, if the foundation is not strong, it is transmitted to the top.
The Daily Graphic expects managers of education, in collaboration with the various district assemblies and communities, to be deliberate in the development of preschool centres.
In this modern era, such structures as we find in the Bono Region and many others throughout the country are unacceptable in our educational space.
It is worth noting that the GETFund in its 2025 allocations has earmarked GH¢40 million for the construction of Kindergarten classrooms throughout the country. The amount is a significant increase from the previous allocation of GH¢30 million.
The Daily Graphic expects that these classrooms will be built throughout the country, with priority for those in the rural areas.
Improving preschools in the rural and deprived areas is a step towards closing the learning gaps between the urban and rural areas, a development the Education Minister has been passionate about since assuming office.
It is a known fact that education is a leveller and a bridge between the poor, deprived and the needy, and so, making it available in all its forms to every child, irrespective of their location, is a must to end learning poverty.
We expect that as part of the country’s reset agenda, the educational sector must take a critical look at the preschool level to ensure that there is holistic development.
