The Ghana Education Service (GES) under the Early Childhood Education Harmonised Scale Programme (ECEHSP), has trained coordinators, officers and deputy directors in charge of monitoring and supervision of kindergarten teachers.

The ECEHSP is designed to improve the quality of early childhood education by building teacher capacity and ensuring consistent implementation of the kindergarten curriculum through play-based and child-centered pedagogy.

This method is expected to help children develop literacy, numeracy, creativity, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking within engaging and inclusive learning environments.

Mrs Adiza Tassa, the National Director, Early Childhood Education Unit, speaking at the opening ceremony of the training of the fourth cohort of the district teacher support team, at Fumesua, near Kumasi, indicated that, the initiative reaffirmed GES’s commitment to advancing quality early childhood education and strengthening foundational learning outcomes.

She said the nationwide training drive was to retrain more than 32,000 kindergarten teachers and address long-standing challenges in Early Childhood Education.

She said a key focus of the reform was to end the practice of assigning teachers who were pregnant, unwell, returning from maternity leave, or facing disciplinary action to kindergarten classrooms.

Explaining the relevance of kindergarten, she said it formed the foundation of a child’s education and must be staffed with competent and well-trained teachers, arguing that, a weak foundation affected the entire upbringing of children and national development.

The fourth cohort training brought together participants from Upper East, Western and Ashanti Regions to share experiences, learn Kindergarten In-Service Education and Training, and equipped with the knowledge, practical skills and facilitation techniques required to effectively deliver training in their respective districts.

Mrs Tassa noted that, the government through the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service continued to place foundational learning at the centre of education reforms with the objective of expanding access to kindergarten and improving the quality of teaching and learning.

She encouraged parents to enroll their wards in public kindergartens demystifying perceptions about public kindergartens lacking skilled instructors.

Mr Francis LordAcquah, the Early Childhood Education Technical Manager, commended the collaborative efforts of partners in reaching masses of teachers.

He said this initiative would not only equip the over 30,000 teachers with enhanced skills but also ensure that 1.2 million young learners receive a strong foundation in their early education.

Dr William Kwame Amankra Appiah, Ashanti Regional Director of Education, mentioned that, the focus now was on building modern kindergarten classrooms to make learning more effective for children.

He said every school should have one or two of these modernized KG rooms to boost learners and teachers’ confidence levels.

The programme is being supported by the Ministry of Education, World Bank, UNICEF, SCALE Funders, and technical partners including Sabre Education, Chance for Childhood, Children Believe, Right To Play, Lively Minds, and Innovations for Poverty Action.