Teach2Teach International (T2T) has reiterated the need to ensure that every child in Ghana has access to quality education, stressing that no child should be left behind.
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of T2T International, Anita Lowenstein Dent, says Ghana is a rising nation with significant potential for investment, particularly in education.
She believes education remains one of the fastest ways to break the cycle of poverty, emphasizing that the ability to read and write is a basic human right and every child deserves access to quality education.
Madam Lowenstein Dent stated this at the of launch of Teach2Teach Radio and community volunteer teacher program in Tamale.
She explained that T2T International works with teachers, headteachers, community volunteers, parents and caregivers to ensure that children are enrolled in school and attend classes regularly.
The organization also uses radio and online platforms to promote the importance of education and encourage communities to support children’s learning.
As part of its interventions, T2T International has trained more than 65 teachers, headteachers and school inspectors in 20 schools across five districts in the Northern Region namely; Nanton, Tolon, Kumbungu and Savelugu in the Northern Region, and West Gonja in the Savannah Region.
The initiative also advocates for child-friendly classroom environments, with a recommended class size of 25 pupils rather than 50, to improve teaching, learning and pupil engagement.
The T2T International founder disclosed that school enrolment and regular attendance have been increasing steadily in the project’s beneficiary schools. She further indicated that the intervention had contributed to a 72 per cent improvement in numeracy among participating pupils.
Deputy Executive Director of T2T International, Dr Kirk Anderson, explained that the organization’s second cycle of interventions would introduce the complementary Basic Education approach into regular public primary schools.
He said the initiative would rely on trained Community Volunteer Teachers to support classroom instruction and help more children develop essential literacy and numeracy skills.
Dr Kirk said Teach2Teach International began in 2017 with a simple belief, children in state schools deserve better teaching, and communities must be part of making that happen. The approach, he explained brings together the classroom, the radio and the community, in the people’s native language and in English.
They sing, tell stories, play learning games and work in small groups, because a child who enjoys learning remembers. Second, teaching starts where the child is, step by step, so that no child is left behind. Third, the teacher is someone the community knows and trusts.
’In the classroom, we use CBE methods to improve how children are taught, so that they achieve better results in reading and numbers’, Dr Kirk stated.
On radio, T2T reach a great many parents and caregivers, including those outside our districts of implementation, with discussions on topics that matter, such as girls’ education, the inclusion of children with disabilities, and keeping children in school through the farming season, he added.
These groups he said are community members who come together to discuss what they heard on the radio, in their own language, and make positive commitments for the good of their children and their community.
This cycle, we are working in five districts:
Some of the beneficiary volunteer teachers lauded the program for impact it has in their teaching
head teacher of Tigoli Roman Catholic primary school, Ibrahim Mohammed aid through T2T they were thought about the importance of inclusive education.
The three-days capacity building Mr Ibrahim said re-emphasized the need teachers to encourage parents to invest in their education.
