20 Years of impactful work in the lives of children: SABRE Education renews commitment to early childhood education

Sabre Education has marked its 20th anniversary with a renewed commitment to transforming early childhood education across the country. 

The event, which was held in Accra last Thursday, gathered education leaders, non-governmental organisations and traditional leaders all united in honouring two decades of impactful work.

The celebration also showcased testimonials from teachers and students in schools that benefited from SABRE’s initiatives.

SABRE Education also awarded six individuals who have made notable contributions to early childhood education in Ghana over the past two decades.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SABRE Education, Susan Place Everhart, reaffirmed the group's goal to help Ghana achieve universal access to quality early childhood education by 2030.

That, she believed, would set the standard in early childhood education for the rest of the sub-Saharan region.

“We seek to support the Ghana Education Service (GES) to build the capacity of kindergarten teachers and those around them. Our goal is a quality play-based early education for every child," she noted.

The CEO also revealed the group's intentions of extending their reach to private schools as well, adding that “we have taken to heart, the need to include private schools in our strategy. All children in Ghana deserve quality education".

Impact

SABRE Education has significantly influenced the lives of Ghana's youngest learners over the past two decades.

Since its inception in 2004, the organisation has championed play-based learning methodologies, enhancing literacy and numeracy skills among kindergarten students.  

The CEO gave a reason for this approach, stating that children who learnt through play had, “increased literacy, increased numeracy, and psychosocial skills compared to those in rote-based classrooms”.

“Together, we will achieve great things for the young children of Ghana today and tomorrow," she concluded.

Brighter future

For his part, the Deputy Minister in charge of General Education, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, expressed optimism about the future of early childhood education in Ghana.

“As a ministry, we want to ensure that a minimum of 90 per cent of learners should be able to read and to be proficient in literacy and numeracy by the time that they are 10 years old," he stated.

He also praised the partnership between the ministry and SABRE Education, highlighting its critical role in enhancing early childhood education across the country.

Partnership

Rev. Fordjour said that the ministry remained committed to fostering effective partnerships that enhanced early childhood education, highlighting the importance of harmonising efforts among various organisations.

“The Ministry of Education seeks to harmonise the inputs of organisations within the play-based space, such as SABRE Education, UNICEF, IPA, Right to Play, and Lively Minds," he said.

Those collaborations, he said, would maximise the impact of educational investments and ensure that quality education would reach every learner.

The Director of Guidance and Counselling at GES, Gifty Sekyi-Bremansu, who addressed the gathering on behalf of the Director-General, praised the efforts of Sabre Education over the years in ensuring quality early childhood education.

She also revealed that SABRE Education, together with other partners such as UNICEF, Right to Play and IPA, had supported the GES to develop and launch the National KG Inset package, which would be used to train every kindergarten teacher in the play-based methodology.