Questions/Answers

There are many out-of-school children in Ghana, either because they live in deprived rural areas with inadequate education facilities, or grow up in illiterate families with many children, where there is no tradition of education and, although some children go to school, others are kept in the household for domestic work. Furthermore, a considerable number of children drop out after only a few years’ schooling to support the family’s economic activities. Girls are particularly affected. In some areas only 30% of girls are enrolled in school. The Ghana complementary basic education (CBE) programme provides a bridge into the formal education system by offering 9 months’ literacy and numeracy classes to out-of-school children, while engaging the affected communities on the value of education and encouraging transition into the formal Ghanaian school system after the 9 months class. The approach uses local language (mother tongue) teaching, so education is less alien to the community; and local community teachers identified by and committed to the community do the teaching. These serve as volunteers and receive a small monthly allowance. It is a prerequisite that they are literate, and they are given initial 3-week’s training, on-going supervision and short refresher training during the 9 month’s community class. A number of them are subsequently adopted by the formal education system to address the lack of teachers in deprived areas; some of them receiving support to complete full teacher training while working as pupil teachers. The initiative is implemented in cooperation between Ghana Education Service (GES), as implementing agency of the Ministry of Education, and a series of stakeholders, with funding from DFID and USAID. The initiative is embedded in GES through a management unit in Basic Education Division, and is implemented at district level by GES district offices in cooperation with civil society organizations (CSOs)/NGOs.

The overall objectives of the Complementary Basic Education programme are: • to provide complementary basic education (CBE) to 200,000 out-of-school children with 9 months instruction in literacy and numeracy in community based classes to enable them to transition into the mainstream school system; and • to improve the knowledge, understanding and capacity of the Government of Ghana and other Ghanaian agencies to assume increasing responsibility for the CBE programme and to continue with complementary basic education following the withdrawal of external support

The initiative targets marginalized communities with inadequate access to education. The target group is 8–14 year old children, who have never been to school or have dropped out – the majority being girls. The programme offers them ‘second chance’ access through an accelerated literacy approach. GES and a number of CSOs/NGOs, contracted as implementing partners, sensitize communities with out-of-school children on the importance of education and the possibility for children to gain access to the education system through a 9-month CBE class. Recognizing the challenge in recruiting teachers, the community is responsible for identifying a literate community volunteer who is trained to teach the class. Each community forms a committee with at least 60% women that receive capacity building to monitor the class and engage with the community and education authorities. GES at district level and the implementing partner supervise and monitor the CBE classes and cooperate with the community committee and with the nearest formal school, which will absorb the children typically into the 3rd or 4th class after the CBE class. This innovative approach provides access for out-of-school children into mainstream education through partnerships between GES, CSOs/NGOs and local communities supported to engage with the public education system.

The initiative directly addresses SDGs 4 and 5, but also contributes to 1 and 10. Children not benefiting from their right to education, drop-outs and children not reached by the formal education system are given access to education. Through local cooperation in a community based education initiative the gap between marginalized citizens and the public education system is bridged. Education is introduced and made attractive to communities characterized by illiteracy and alienation to the formal education system by using local mother tongue, a locally relevant curriculum, and involving the community in setting up the class. The challenge of recruiting teachers to deprived areas is addressed by training community volunteers identified by the local community. The volunteers are often senior high school graduates in a waiting situation because they lack opportunities. They can improve their future prospects. Special incentives are provided to communities who identify female volunteers. The deprived districts cannot easily recruit teachers because of poor infrastructure in health, water, sanitation, connectivity, etc. An accelerated approach using locally recruited teachers helps mitigate these challenges. The initiative increases access to the mainstream education system, giving a second chance through a bridge to education for out-of-school children beyond normal school starting age.

Rural communities especially in northern Ghana are underserved in terms of basic education. Figures on out-of-school children were estimated at around 500,000 when the initiative began. So many children excluded from education is critical; and called for a special intervention by Government in collaboration with CSOs. The mainstream education system did not reach these children for various reasons: The children live in remote areas where it is difficult to open schools due to scattered population and inability to attract teachers. By making classes of 8 – 14 year olds, with only 25 pupils per class for effective learning, and by using locally available community volunteer teachers, the children were able to attain sufficient literacy and numeracy skills to enter P3 or P4 in the formal school. They have an age where they can walk longer distances to the nearest school than children of normal school starting age. A high proportion of out-of-school children are drop-outs, e.g. due to migration to/from urban areas and poor resourcing of formal education. They get a chance to re-enter the formal education system. A higher proportion of girls are excluded from education to undertake domestic responsibilities. This initiative prioritizes girls and involves women in local decision-making.

With one more teaching cycle left (2017/18), the initiative has by the end of the 2016/17 cycle provided access to 182,652 out-of -school children, hereof 49.4% girls, in the target age range 8 to 14. They had never been to school and had no prospect of enrolling, or had dropped out before completing basic education. They have attained literacy and numeracy skills in their mother tongue, and approx. 92% of those completing the 9 months cycle have transitioned into the formal school system. An impact assessment conducted when the CBE model was originally developed (see 4b) showed that bringing education to deprived communities has a positive impact not only on the individual child but also at household and community level by contributing empowerment and agency. More than 4,100 local community volunteers (typically senior high school graduates waiting in their rural community for opportunities for higher education) have been trained as community volunteer teachers, which has improved their self-esteem and future prospects, as well as the opportunity for the deprived districts to draw on locally available capacity in the continued battle to improve educational standards. Women are particularly targeted to become volunteer teachers to act as role model to the children.

It is the first public service initiative in Ghana that targets out-of-school children and offers a bridge into mainstream formal education. It relies on a number of strategies to create community ownership and break down barriers to education, including sociocultural barriers restraining parents from enrolling all their children in school, particularly girls. It applies mother tongue with materials developed in 12 local languages. It starts with community sensitization and creation of a local committee to cooperate with the implementing partners (IPs) and/or GES. It makes use of mostly senior high school graduates as volunteer teachers. Hence it recognizes supply and demand side issues in providing basic education to the marginalized poor. The initiative is also innovative in how it is structured. It is implemented in partnership between Ghana’s Ministry of Education through a management unit embedded in GES, DFID and USAID as funding partners, and ten CSOs/ NGOs as IPs. In the first cycles, the IPs implemented in all target districts in collaboration with GES district directorates. GES now implements in 14 of 40 active districts. The collaboration has enabled Government and civil society to recognize each other’s strengths and weaknesses in reaching children in deprived areas with basic education.

The initiative is based on a CBE model developed by the NGO School for Life (SfL) and the Danish CSO Ghana Friends under Danida funded cooperation from 1995 – 2012. It started in two districts and scaled up to 13 districts in Northern Region. The initiative was based on research on large numbers of out-of-school children and a public education system unable to cater for children from marginalized communities with high proportion of low literacy parents. Key elements in the innovative approach were: • use of mother tongue • functional literacy with content relevant to rural life • use of local volunteers as community teachers • community ownership through creation of local committees with required women majority • female empowerment strategies in recruiting learners and teachers • cost effective approach The cooperation between CSOs and GES developed into a scaleable model, which began to be seen as a bridge into the formal system. A Danida funded impact assessment commissioned in 2007 by SfL and Ghana Friends showed very positive results. Other donors gained interest in working with SfL to reach more out-of-school children, and approx. 197,000 children were reached between 1995 and 2012. This has led to the present Complementary Basic Education programme embedded in GES.

Funding for the 5-year period amounts to USD 32.7 million. This covers implementation in up to 49 districts in 5 regions through 10 IPs (CSOs/NGOs) and district GES offices, operating CBE classes of 25 learners per class in more than 2,000 communities. The classes are run in existing schools or other structures available in communities, e.g. the chief’s palace or even under a tree. The University of Education and GES Curriculum Research and Development Division have developed and approved teaching and learning material in 12 local languages, which is provided to each class together with blackboard. At the local level support is given to monitor, support and build capacity of a local school management committee and ongoing supervision of the volunteer teachers by the IPs’ local staff and GES district education staff. The local support includes gender training and guidance/mentoring services to retain learners in school. At national level, the funding covers operation of the national management unit embedded in GES, contracting and cooperation with the implementing partners, including quality assurance, monitoring and research. There is cooperation with district education offices to cater for requisite facilities needed for integrating the CBE graduates in the formal school after the CBE class.

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The CBE model was developed in cooperation between a Ghanaian CSO and a Danish CSO (see 4b) and implemented to a scale where a solid impact assessment could be done. This provided a springboard for major development partners and GES to recognize the model and buy into it. It has thus been transferred from CSOs cooperating on developing and testing the model to large-scale implementation in cooperation between state actors, development partners and CSOs/NGOs. Other NGOs, e.g. the Danish NGO OXFAM IBIS, have adopted the model in fragile states and situations as an accelerated approach to provide basic education to out-of-school children, e.g. Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan. Other countries – Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Ethiopia - have sourced information about the model, which is indeed transferable. It is by now well described and scaled up. Key elements of the model, e.g. community ownership, local community volunteer teachers, the accelerated learning approach, and cooperation with the formal school system on integration into mainstream education are transferable. Partnership between the public education system and CSOs/NGOs can be transferred to facilitate implementation. It is a cost effective model in areas without schools or where teachers are unwilling to serve.

The CBE policy framework was adopted in 2014 for the initiative to scale up and includes the following: • The Minister of Education signed the CBE policy in 2014, recognizing the need to address the issue of out-of-school children during the next decade and beyond • CBE is part of Ghana’s Education Strategic Plan for 2018 – 2030 • CBE is included in the government’s 2018 budget statement to reflect GES full take-over after completion of the ongoing initiative In deprived areas where the mainstream basic school system is challenged in providing access to all children due to lack of infrastructure and not least teachers, the CBE model provides a low cost model for integrating children after 9 months’ accelerated learning, while the country’s infrastructure is still developing to cater for all children through mainstream education. CBE is recognized in the Educational Strategic Plan as value for money. The CBE management unit has calculated the cost per child at approx. 150 USD including all costs for supervision etc. Most children will transition from the 9 months CBE class into the 3rd or 4th year of the formal school, which saves the government money on early grade education for these children. The initiative promotes social sustainability as it builds ownership of education in deprived communities by sensitizing and supporting the community to monitor the CBE class and assume a high level of responsibility of the educational situation in the community (encouraging families to send their children to school and engaging the authorities on issues pertaining to educational delivery). The identification of local community volunteer teachers, who are trained to deliver numeracy and literacy skills to the CBE class in a child-centred pedagogical approach creates a basis for increased possibilities of local teacher recruitment for the formal system in marginalized areas, which is a huge challenge.

As described in 4b, the initiative is based on a CBE model that has been in continuous development and implementation since 1995, at a steadily increasing scale and impact. The current CBE intervention is to be fully taken over by Government of Ghana from the academic year 2018/19 at the end of DFID and USAID financing. The inclusion of CBE in Ghana’s Education Strategic Plan 2018 – 2030 reflects recognition of the need to cater specifically for out-of-school children for a number of years still; and the inclusion of CBE in the 2018 budget statement reflects the government’s commitment to pursue it, although allocation of a specific amount for 2018 is yet to be known.

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An external impact assessment was carried out around 2007, during the development of the CBE model before it was adopted by the public system (see 4b), revealing significant impact at family and community levels. The ongoing initiative has a comprehensive research agenda to assess impact on learning outcomes and access to primary and junior secondary formal education. As the initiative is still ongoing, the evaluations completed to date are learner assessments from the end of 2nd, 3rd and 4th cycles (2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17). In the next phase of the study CBE graduates will be tracked through a year of traditional primary schooling. The 3rd cycle assessment was carried out by the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy, University of Cape Coast, and the 4th cycle assessment by a research team including University of Cambridge, University of Sussex and iMC Worldwide. A baseline study was conducted to assess literacy and numeracy proficiency of the pupils participating in the respective CBE cycle, matched by a corresponding endline study. A child background questionnaire, literacy assessment, and numeracy assessment were administered to a proportionally representative sample of students at the beginning and end of the cycle.

The overall conclusions are that the initiative produces strong learning gains with the pupils being academically better prepared to transition into formal school. The cycle 4 evaluation concludes that 80-85% of learners in the programme improve in both literacy and numeracy, with 69% becoming proficient or approaching proficiency by the end of the 9 months (endline evaluation). In terms of factors influencing gains in student performance, older learners were found to realize larger gains than younger ones; and boys, on average, outperformed girls mainly because more boys moved into the proficient category, although reasons for this were unclear. Pupils without prior school experience made significant gains compared with those who had been to school, seen as evidence that the model is valid as a way of integrating out-of-school children into the formal system. Community teachers helping pupils with difficulty in understanding and in engaging in group work was found to significantly increase gains across a number of competencies, seen as evidence of the importance of the pupil centred, participatory pedagogical approaches promoted by the initiative. It was also found that the use of mother tongue was a significant factor, especially for the most basic skill acquisition and children achieving proficiency.

Samples of pupils were tracked from the beginning of the 9 months CBE class to the end of the class with two main purposes: 1. Assess the literacy and numeracy gains resulting from the CBE programme 2. Compare the learning gains of students by sex, language, wealth, implementing partner and region. Literacy and numeracy assessments were used across five different categories: Basic Reading, Advanced Reading, Writing, Basic Numeracy, and Advanced Numeracy and results scored on scales from 0 to 100. Based on this the results were divided into four proficiency levels: 1. Non-performer (scoring 0 on a sub component) 2. Beginning (scoring above 0 but less than 50) 3. Approaching proficiency (scoring above 50 but less than 80) 4. Proficient (scoring above 80)

The CBE model developed in cooperation between the NGO School for Life and the Danish Ghana Friends (see 4b) became known to other education stakeholders due to the positive results. It was scaled up and other donors involved, especially DFID and USAID. GES was involved at district level from the start, cooperating with SfL in monitoring classes and assessing graduates to enter the appropriate level in formal school. The ongoing CBE initiative was designed in cooperation between Ministry of Education, GES and DFID, with USAID coming in as donor after the programme had started. At the same time, MoE was developing a policy on CBE in consultation with a wide range of education stakeholders, including development partners and civil society. The Minister of Education signed the policy in 2014, and the 2018 budget statement includes a commitment to expand CBE. Crown Agents was contracted to set up the CBE management unit within GES. This unit coordinates implementation carried out by the IPs (CSOs/NGOs), carries out monitoring and organizes annual reviews. SfL as originator of the model and most experienced in implementation trains the other IPs in the approach, and implements in a number of districts. Now GES district offices implement in 14 districts where they took over from implementing partners. The initiative has a National Steering Committee, which includes key stakeholders from Government, the donor community and CSO coalitions in education. In connection with the start-up of the CBE initiative and GES taking onboard the concept of CBE, CSOs and NGOs working in education formed the CBE Alliance to advocate for adoption of the CBE policy and funding for CBE after the end of the ongoing initiative. The initiative has so far been evaluated by Directorate of Research, Cape Coast University, and by a research team led by iMC Worldwide.

Involving local communities in managing the initiative builds community ownership. Community-based volunteers supporting education provide several advantages. The community feels safer; huge problems of teacher absenteeism in deprived areas are addressed; the teacher knows the local language and often has close community affiliation and loyalty. Additional benefits arise if community teachers are systematically supported to qualify as teachers within the formal system. Particular gains arise for girls who otherwise are excluded from primary schooling due to socio-cultural and economic barriers. The initiative helps educate parents on the importance of education, often transforming attitudes resulting in their girls transitioning to primary education. Having women’s majority on the community committee and attracting female volunteer teachers underpins the importance of girls’ education. Close cooperation between the CBE initiative and formal schooling is necessary for smooth absorption of CBE graduates. In rural hard-to-reach areas, it is necessary to open schools to absorb the graduates. The public–private–civil partnership provides an effective framework, legitimacy, technical expertise, funding and community activism to cooperate in service delivery innovation. The initiative shows that civil society can provide government with a support system to reach the most deprived and hard-to-reach areas with a simple, cost-effective and learning-efficient model.