On Wednesday, 12 September 2018, the UK organised a workshop in Ghana as part of the CBE programme that is transforming lives of some of the poorest rural children and communities.

This programme, supported by DFID and USAID, has been truly transformational for many of the poorest, rural children and communities. CBE has supported almost 250,000 children, unable to go to school due to poverty, distance to schools or family demands, to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills, and then transition back into primary school. This has given them a second chance at an education and the opportunity to transform their lives.

The current support for CBE is entering a new phase. Government will take on the leadership and funding of the programme – either by funding directly or through working in partnership with others - to ensure that the programme will go on to benefit the 450,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 who remain out of school in Ghana.

Philip Smith, Country Director for DFID Ghana said:

CBE is a programme that demonstrates the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda in practical and tangible terms – and a Ghana Beyond aid that looks to a day when Ghana’s education sector is financed to enable every young child, boy and girl, to have access to education. As the UK, we are proud to have supported and worked with the government on the CBE programme.

Background

CBE is a ground-breaking and accelerated learning approach for Out of School Children (OOSC) between the ages of 8 to 14 from some of the poorest areas of the country. The programme assists children learn to read, write and numerate within a nine-month period.

On completion of the programme CBE learners are then transitioned into primary school at class 3 or class 4. The CBE programme is paving the way for Ghana to attain Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) and is providing the opportunity for all children to access basic education in some of the hardest to reach deprived communities in the country.

The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) in collaboration with US Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing support to the government of Ghana to address the Out of School Children challenge under the CBE Programme.

The support has helped over 240,000 OOSC (approx. 50% girls) to participate in literacy and numeracy classes in the afternoon across over 6,000 communities between 2012 –2018. The programme has also built the government’s capacity to undertake CBE activities in 50 districts and five regions of the country.

The External Management Unit for CBE comprises Crown Agents and Associates for Change. Ten non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been implementing the programme over the past five years. These NGOs assist the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to support the programme at the district and community level.

CBE offers a flexible education approach that supports disadvantaged children (especially girls) with literacy, numeracy and life skills. Whether a child has never been to school or dropped out of school, CBE’s innovative approach has succeeded in equipping children learn to read, write and capacitated them with life skills in the nine month period.

The teaching and learning package for children has been translated into twelve local languages. Classes are taught in the afternoon by volunteer facilitators often graduates from senior high school who must be resident in the communities.

The success of the programme is attributed largely to community engagement which has proven very successful with over 90% of CBE graduate being fully integrated in the formal primary school system.

CBE Achievements (2012-2018)

• Over 9,600 community-based facilitators were trained in the CBE methodology of which 37% were female facilitators in the 2017/18 cycle.
• Over 7,000 local committees or SMC’s of which over 60% are female members of local committees and involved in the community organisation, oversight and running of the CBE classes.
• Over 7344 classes in 6,348 communities were reached with the programme over the last five years.

CBE research findings

A Research and Lesson Learning workshop on CBE is being hosted by the government and key implementing partners to review the evidence which is emerging on CBE. The Research team led by Professor Kwame Akyeampong from the University of Sussex, in collaboration with academics from the University of Cambridge as well as RTI International, Jeavco Associates, PAB Development Consultants and IMC Worldwide demonstrated that:

• children who have been out of school and go through CBE catch up on their lack of basic skills (at the start of the CBE programme only one-third of children were able to do simple one-digit division; after 9 months in the CBE this increased to 80%)
• after completing the CBE programme, CBE children placed in public schools (often at P3 and P4 levels) show similar learning levels as children in public schools
• after one year in public schools, CBE children maintain progress in learning comparable to children in public schools in many tasks of local language literacy, English and numeracy; over a third of CBE children achieved 80% correct responses in the English literacy assessment, similar to those achieved by children in public schools
• little over half of CBE children achieved 80% correct answers in the mathematics test, similar to those achieved by children in public schools
• as a result of the progress achieved in local language literacy and numeracy, CBE children become confident learners and enjoy learning; as stated by one CBE child “it’s because… it’s my language, that’s why I like it [CBE programme]”
• the studies also show that parental support for CBE was a key factor in children’s learning outcomes and their retention in school

Further information

1. The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UK government’s fight against world poverty. UKaid is the logo used to demonstrate how the UK government’s development work is improving the lives of the world’s poorest people.
2. USAID partners to end extreme poverty and to promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity.
3. The UK government and the US government have provided £27.9 million to help Ghana implement the CBE programme aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of universal primary education.