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Background On Early childhood Education In Ghana
Early childhood education (ECE) in Ghana is rooted in colonialism.it began as part of the mission from abroad that were established to convert the population to Christianity(Morrison,2002).sine Ghana gained independence from colonial rule in 1957 , the new republic has committed to educating young citizens. For example in 1965,the ministry of education established the nursery and kindergarten unit to develop preschools yet.
The financial strain of supporting cost free basic education and tertiary education university ,,teaching training and professor> left the government with limited resources to focus on education before th age of 6years.Despite this, a grass root materials in the 1990s propelled preschool expansion by setting up child care center cross the nation and seeking funds from a variety of non-government organization.
Focused development of ECE program is now in demand. The general disposition is that the age scope of the universal, free compulsory basic education should include kindergarten and the government of Ghana has stipulated that by 2010 every Ghanaian child should have access to kindergarten education at age 5(Republic of Ghana ministry of woman and children affairs) more over a model to enhance the quality of preschool age children 4-5year old to ensure the development readiness for school will be in place for national republication by 2010.
As a result of continued interested in expanding early learning opportunites, question have arisen about how to prepare teaches for work in these context.
According to Morrison 2002, the nation teacher training college do not have adequate specialized course work for the preparation and development of early childhood teachers. The majority of teachers receive this early childhood training through inserving while on job.The ministry of education Nursery and kindergarten unit established in 1965 in the capital city of Accra, reflected concern with offering specialized early childhood teacher education program.
Individual who engage in teacher preparation at the unit travel to other region to disseminate knowledge. Despite difficulty ascertaining resources Ghana remain committed to early child schooling. Give this commitment, Morrison 2002 concluded that “these is still much to be done in reaching the goal of systematic early childhood training program.
According to the UNESCO international bureau of education country profie report on early childhood care and educational programmes in Ghana 2006 among the 22,014 and early childhood teachers only 22.2% have receive training. Despite the rapid expansion of preschool service,the quanlity of instruction is of great concern,national policy in Ghana are to address current problem of access and quality in early childhood education by promoting the professional identity,the early childhood care and development ECCD policy of Ghana focuses on building the capacity of eccd practition and instruction among its goals and objective.to acheive this ,teacher education institution such as university of cape coast need to expand and maximize us of their training facilities as well as prepare researchers and early childhood leaders who can assume critical roles in advancing early childhood education throughout the nation.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) is the timely provision of a range of services that promote the survival, growth, development and protection of the young child. This is not new, since traditionally, Ghanaians have always demonstrated devoted attention to child up-bringing.
Institutionally, however, various Ministries, Departments and Agencies have been responsible for various aspects of early childhood care and development.
Before 2001, the focus of ECCD had been on the cognitive development of the child. This is seen in the establishment of Creches, Day Care Centres, Nurseries and Kindergartens by the Government and private operators to take care of children whilst their parents go out to work. The Ministries of Education and Employment and Social Welfare have had joint responsibilities for these early childhood facilities because of the welfare/care and educational needs of children. Furthermore, the mandate of the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC) made the commission responsible for the welfare of all children in Ghana. The responsibility for policy making in respect to children has shifted from the GNCC to the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) with the establishment of the Ministry in 2001.The new approach to ECCD is to formulate comprehensive policies and programmes for children from birth to age eight, their parents and care givers. This is with the aim of protecting the child’s rights to develop his or her full cognitive, emotional, social and physical potential. This relatively new approach promotes and protects the rights of the young child to survival, growth and development. To manifest the above, roles assigned by the constitution and other instruments to ECD-related MDAs had to be considered to ensure provisions for promoting holistic development of the child. Furthermore, the thrust of national development policy directives to key departments operating under the District Assembly system, such as the Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service, Social Welfare Department and Community Development had to be considered in relation to early childhood development.
Chapters 28, 34(2) and 35(3) of the Constitution of Ghana provide for the realization of basic human rights, healthy economy, the right to work, the right to good health care and the right to education as well as reasonable access by all citizens to public facilities and services in accordance with the law.
The Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560) enjoins the District Assemblies and other Decentralised Departments to facilitate the establishment of Day Care Centres and other ECCD institutions.This policy document seeks to develop policy guidelines, institutional framework to guide stakeholders and to assign responsibilities, and put in place co-ordinating and monitoring mechanisms for promoting early childhood development in Ghana.
There is no doubt that the ECCD programmes, when implemented in an integrated and co-ordinated manner will ensure the holistic development of the child and provide a strong foundation for Ghana’s human resource development.
Official body/bodies in charge of supervision or coordination:
•Department of Social Welfare
•Ministry of Education with the Ghana Education Service Currently the Department of Social Welfare is responsible for registration and maintenance of standards in all crèches and day care centres for children aged 0-2 while the Ghana Education Service (which has the responsibility of implementing pre-tertiary education policies formulated by the Ministry of Education) is responsible for curriculum development for children aged
3-5 years. ECD activities have however been constrained by lack of collaboration and
coordination between these two principal agencies.
Type of personnel involved: Teachers, nursery attendants, etc.
Type of staff training (requirements):
In order to ensure that nursery schools are properly run, the Government has set up a National Nursery Teachers’ Training Centre where certificated teachers who want to specialise in nursery education, and nursery attendants are trained. The pre-school or nursery teacher training course lasts three months, after which a certificate is awarded.
The basic-level teacher training course lasts three years, after which a teacher certificate “A” is awarded to successful students. In addition to the National Nursery Teachers’ Training Centre, the University of Education Winneba has started a 4-year Degree programme in ECCE.
GOAL, OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS
Policy Goal
The broad goal of this policy is to promote the survival, growth and development of all children (0-8 years) in Ghana.
In furtherance of this goal, the Government will continue to take measures to improve the standard of living and quality of life of families. To this end, Government will continue to pursue policies and programmes to reduce poverty in the country in order to enhance, among other things, the welfare of children.
Policy Objectives
The objectives of the policy are to:
• promote widespread acceptance and observance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• promote the observance and enforcement of the Children’s Act 1998, Act 560;integrate ECCD issues into Development Planning schemes at the community, district, regional and national levels;
• provide pre-school education in collaboration with District Assemblies, the private Sector, Community Based Organisations (CBO), NGOs and Religious Organisations;
• provide fee-free tuition in pre-schools;
• provide for the preparation (training) and upgrading of pre-school teachers and caregivers;
• promote nutrition and household food security reduce the high Infant and Under-Five Mortality Rates;
• provide information and skills to parents and primary care-givers;
• improve income earning capacity of parents;
• enforce existing laws to reduce all forms of child abuse and socio-cultural practices which are detrimental to the well being of children;
• strengthen the institutional capabilities of those delivering ECCD services at the national, regional and district levels;
• establish mechanisms for collaboration and for co-ordination of services for children in the country;
• clarify the roles and responsibilities of Government, donors and other ECCD service providers in the country;
• mobilize and allocate resources for ECCD programmes;
• provide guidelines and standards for service providers to ensure quality ECCD service delivery;
• Provide accessible and affordable ECCD services;
• Establish relevant and reliable data base on children;
• Conduct regular and operational research into ECCD issues in the country.
Policy Targets
The implementation of the ECCD policy will contribute to the achievements of the following major targets:
• achievement of full immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases for, at least 80% of infants in Ghana (0-11 months) by 2005;
• reduction in the Infant Mortality Rate from 57 infant deaths per 1000 live births to 50 and the Child Mortality Rate from 108 to 50 per 1000 births by 2006;
• reduction in the Maternal Mortality Rate from 214 to 150 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births;
• provision of ante-natal care to all pregnant women by 2006;
• decrease in the incidence and rates of low birth weight babies from 8 per cent to 5 per cent by 2003;
• eradication of severe childhood malnutrition;
• achievement of exclusive breast-feeding of infants aged 0-6 months by 50 percent of mothers by 2006;
• expansion of primary school enrolment to 95 per cent by 2020;
• provide 60 percent of public primary schools with two KG classrooms by 2015;
• increase gross enrolments ratio (GER) at preschool level to 75 percent by 2015;
• fee-free tuition defined and disseminated by December 2003;
• development and publication of national policy on preschool;
• development of curriculum for teacher training (including training in preschool education) by 2005;
• increase enrolments in Teacher Training Colleges (TTC) by 43 percent by 2005;
• expansion of ECCD programmes for survival, growth and development to 80 per cent of children
• aged 0-8 especially in rural and urban poor communities by 2020;
• elimination of gender disparities in Primary School enrolment by 2010;
• strengthening of the information base by improving the availability of quality data on children and their families; and achievement of universal birth registration by the year 2005.
The implementation strategy for the policy shall involve the creation of a conducive environment for developing ECCD programmes, promotion of integrated services, establishment of conventional and non-conventional ECCD systems, training of care-givers, capacity-building for individuals and institutions towards the growth and sustenance of the systems and mobilization of resources.
The institutional framework is modeled on the existing of decentralisation. Provision is therefore made for committees at the community, district and its sub-structures, regional and national levels. Parents, Community members, District Assemblies, Regional Co-ordinating Councils, NGOs, Development
Partners and the Government will be actively involved.
The policy should be seen as both a challenge and an opportunity to continue to develop the country’s human resource base for the present and the future. Its successful implementation, thus, depends on the several and collective responsibilities of all stakeholders who share the clear view that early childhood care and development is a strong foundation for the development of individuals, society and the nation as a whole.