There is a story of a senior civil servant who was posted to Gushiegu Karaga District who refused to go, on the grounds that his children's education would suffer as a result. The civil servant argued that there were no good schools in GushieguKaraga for his children to attend. He was right. GES records in the district show that the performances of Junior Secondary School (JSS) students in the district over the years have not been encouraging. This poor performance has also affected their results at the senior (SSS) level. Indeed, the cause of the abysmal performance can be traced right back to the nursery and primary schools.
However, 36-year-old Mariah Issah is determined not to let her five-year-old daughter fall victim to such circumstances. Mariah, a kulikuli (groundnut cake) maker, wakes up her daughter, Jemilatu Issah, at 6:30 a.m. each day of the week to prepare for school.
Jemila quickly wakes up and goes to fetch water to wash her face. She then cleans her mouth with a toothbrush and paste provided by her dad, Abdulai B. Issah, a worker with the Ghana Health Service in Gushiegu. Jemila then goes with her mother to fetch water from a well situated in the middle of their compound house to bath. After bathing, she goes to dress, whiles her mum busily prepares breakfast for her. Wearing her clean school uniform and neat boots, she quickly devours her breakfast and walks briskly to her school, located about 400 metres from her home.
Mariah knows that once her daughter Jemila is off to school, she has enough time to engage in her income generating activities (Kulikuli production). "Jemila would have been a big burden on me if she were not in school. I would not have had enough time to engage in my kulikuli work whiles she was around. I am particularly glad that she is in Ii good school and is getting the best of preschool education. I want her to grow up to become somebody in future," she says.
Jemila is fortunate enough to be a member of a pioneer model nursery school in Gushiegu. The school is aimed at giving children a head-start in their education, to combat the poor results in later years. Jemila goes to the nursery school along with 24 other children - 16 girls and nine boys. The model nursery school was set up by Gushiegu-Karaga Area Development Programme (ADP) and commenced in September, 2002/2003.
The school is currently housed in the ADP's resource centre. ADP Manager, Gladys Atiah. says the ADP decided to start the model school in thc resource ccntrc with just a few children. to ensure quality education. She said these children would be taken through primary, JSS and SSS level.
Gladys Atiah says each child paid 50 pesewas admission fees, and are paying a monthly feeding fee of 1 Ghana cedis. The ADP is helping supplement this with 2 cedis per child. The ADP Manager says the children are fed a balanced midday meal each day. She says the timetable of the school was designed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the ADP to include Arithmetic, English, Religious and Moral Education and Singing. "The medium of instruction in the nursery is mainly English with a bit of Dagbani. I can see that the children are picking up fast. Whiles some can speak 'English, others are able to understand because they can translate what they have been told in English into Dagbani," she adds.
One important criterion for selection in to the model nursery is. “a child should have a weighing card and a birth certificate. This is to enable the school keep track of the health and nutritional development of each of the children.
Gladys Atiah, affectionately called Madam Kpiemah (Senior Madam) by the children, explains that the next academic year will have 75 children, split into three streams, and the school will be called “Bob Pierce Model Nursery School”. She says by that time the present class of 25 children will be in primary school.
Fortunately the district assembly has given land to World Vision Ghana to construct structures for the model schools. The ADP hopes to complete phase one of a four classroom block with a store, kitchen and office by the end of August 31 this year.
The model nursery is generating a lot of interest and enthusiasm among residents of Gushiegu, judging by the over 300 applications that are lying on the ADP Manager's table. John Nantogmah, the Human Resource Development officer at the GES in Gushiegu, confirms this by admitting that the model nursery is a showpiece among others in the district. He says that although there are about five nursery schools in Gushiegu, these schools experience supervision problems as the number of children far outweigh the number of teachers. John Nantogmah adds that these schools lack proper teaching and learning materials and the school structures are not the standard GES structures. "The ADP in starting in a modest way by giving quality education to the preschool age group, will entice workers on transfer to accept posting to the district".
He adds that GES hopes to organise a workshop for day care givers in the district by involving the teachers of the model nursery school. Mr. Nantogmah also says that in collaboration with the District Assembly, GES will post qualified teachers and Rural Education Volunteers to teach in the model schools. .
However, 36-year-old Mariah Issah is determined not to let her five-year-old daughter fall victim to such circumstances. Mariah, a kulikuli (groundnut cake) maker, wakes up her daughter, Jemilatu Issah, at 6:30 a.m. each day of the week to prepare for school.
Jemila quickly wakes up and goes to fetch water to wash her face. She then cleans her mouth with a toothbrush and paste provided by her dad, Abdulai B. Issah, a worker with the Ghana Health Service in Gushiegu. Jemila then goes with her mother to fetch water from a well situated in the middle of their compound house to bath. After bathing, she goes to dress, whiles her mum busily prepares breakfast for her. Wearing her clean school uniform and neat boots, she quickly devours her breakfast and walks briskly to her school, located about 400 metres from her home.
Mariah knows that once her daughter Jemila is off to school, she has enough time to engage in her income generating activities (Kulikuli production). "Jemila would have been a big burden on me if she were not in school. I would not have had enough time to engage in my kulikuli work whiles she was around. I am particularly glad that she is in Ii good school and is getting the best of preschool education. I want her to grow up to become somebody in future," she says.
Jemila is fortunate enough to be a member of a pioneer model nursery school in Gushiegu. The school is aimed at giving children a head-start in their education, to combat the poor results in later years. Jemila goes to the nursery school along with 24 other children - 16 girls and nine boys. The model nursery school was set up by Gushiegu-Karaga Area Development Programme (ADP) and commenced in September, 2002/2003.
The school is currently housed in the ADP's resource centre. ADP Manager, Gladys Atiah. says the ADP decided to start the model school in thc resource ccntrc with just a few children. to ensure quality education. She said these children would be taken through primary, JSS and SSS level.
Gladys Atiah says each child paid 50 pesewas admission fees, and are paying a monthly feeding fee of 1 Ghana cedis. The ADP is helping supplement this with 2 cedis per child. The ADP Manager says the children are fed a balanced midday meal each day. She says the timetable of the school was designed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the ADP to include Arithmetic, English, Religious and Moral Education and Singing. "The medium of instruction in the nursery is mainly English with a bit of Dagbani. I can see that the children are picking up fast. Whiles some can speak 'English, others are able to understand because they can translate what they have been told in English into Dagbani," she adds.
One important criterion for selection in to the model nursery is. “a child should have a weighing card and a birth certificate. This is to enable the school keep track of the health and nutritional development of each of the children.
Gladys Atiah, affectionately called Madam Kpiemah (Senior Madam) by the children, explains that the next academic year will have 75 children, split into three streams, and the school will be called “Bob Pierce Model Nursery School”. She says by that time the present class of 25 children will be in primary school.
Fortunately the district assembly has given land to World Vision Ghana to construct structures for the model schools. The ADP hopes to complete phase one of a four classroom block with a store, kitchen and office by the end of August 31 this year.
The model nursery is generating a lot of interest and enthusiasm among residents of Gushiegu, judging by the over 300 applications that are lying on the ADP Manager's table. John Nantogmah, the Human Resource Development officer at the GES in Gushiegu, confirms this by admitting that the model nursery is a showpiece among others in the district. He says that although there are about five nursery schools in Gushiegu, these schools experience supervision problems as the number of children far outweigh the number of teachers. John Nantogmah adds that these schools lack proper teaching and learning materials and the school structures are not the standard GES structures. "The ADP in starting in a modest way by giving quality education to the preschool age group, will entice workers on transfer to accept posting to the district".
He adds that GES hopes to organise a workshop for day care givers in the district by involving the teachers of the model nursery school. Mr. Nantogmah also says that in collaboration with the District Assembly, GES will post qualified teachers and Rural Education Volunteers to teach in the model schools. .
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