The World Bank Group Education report 2018, dubbed “Facing forward: Schooling with Learning in Africa” said 16 per cent of kids from the poorest quintile were out of school, and that there was gender distinction at primary level.

Mrs Eunice Ackwerh, the Senior Education Specialist, World Bank Country Office, who presented an overview of the report on Ghana, said access to education had increased, but challenges relating to age of entry and repetition remained.

[contextly_sidebar id=”kBglAzKyIzCMgxuGFu8KoXc6zAkOuYBO”]She said the age of entry was a persistent challenge to enrollment rate monitoring, which shows barriers to access for on-time enrollment, related to supply of easily accessible basic schools for example.

The report, which compared Ghana to Senegal, Burkina Faso and Malawi, indicated that in Ghana, there was relatively consistent attendance through basic education.

It said at the secondary level, there was a much bigger drop off, since there was an entrance examination and placement process limited to those “qualifying” based on the number of places available.

The report said Ghana conducts national education assessments every two years, but there was the need for more formative assessments to feedback into schools and to measure intermediate results of student competencies.

It said while the Basic Education Certificate Exam (BECE) was normative and used to place students into Senior high school, students were not tested again until end of Senior High School (West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination) for entrance to university.

It noted that, by participating in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) through 2011, Ghana saw increases in each year of testing (albeit from a low starting point).

It said Ghana had been participating in EGRA/EGMA since 2013 with support from USAID, however the results had been questioned by policy makers because of the low learning levels revealed across both some local languages and English.

Lack of basic services in schools

The report said in Ghana, schools lack basic services to provide quality education.

The report, which compares Ghana to the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) average of percentage of primary schools with access to basic services in 2013, indicated that for toilet, Ghana had 58 per cent, while that of SSA was 69 per cent.

For portable water, Ghana scores 45, whereas that of the SSA was 51 per cent; however for electricity, Ghana’s performance was 31 per cent, while that of the SSA was 25 per cent.

Childhood Education

On policy direction for Ghana, the report recommended early investment; adding that quality of pre-primary was critical especially in order to develop non-cognitive foundational skills.

It said Early Childhood Education could interrupt the low skills equilibrium improving schooling, jobs, and even earnings called for alignment of curricula, teacher training, materials and assessments around goal of foundational skills for all.

It said there was the need to recognize inequality in learning opportunities, noting that disadvantaged children attend schools that are also disadvantaged, adding“Our policies need to help level playing field and address particular challenges to learning for these children,” .

It advocated quality-enhancing, non-teacher-related inputs, and the need to define and implement standards for minimum school facilities.

It said “Education doesn’t currently build literacy effectively- students can go through school without learning basic foundational skills in reading, maths and science,” and called for improvement in teacher management and support.

It said additional time for learning, school feeding and more or better teachers demonstrated impact as well.

Dr. Beatrix Allah-Mensah, World Bank Senior Country Officer, said: “Schooling is not the same as learning, and here in Ghana, we are well aware of education failing some of our students, particularly children from low-income communities.”

She noted that, education should equip students with the skills they need to contribute to their societies.

“The recent expansion in education is impressive – and Ghana deserves significant praise for its achievements in almost universal access to basic education.”

“Ghana’s access indicators are the envy of many African countries, however, this contradicts the low learning levels, measured by several national and international assessments that indicate that even if students attend school, they may leave without the very basic skills for literacy and numeracy,” she added.

Dr. David Evans, a Lead Economist on the team for the 2018 World Development Report, who gave an overview of the report, said countries that provide better education had faster and sustainable economic growth.

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Source: GNA

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A farcical own goal by away keeper Stephane Ruffier, who failed to control a routine backpass and allowed the ball to roll in, set PSG on their way.

Ibrahimovic doubled the lead just before half-time with a firm header.

He intercepted a backpass for the third, then completed his treble after Edinson Cavani curled in a fourth.

Laurent Blanc’s men have taken eight points from their opening four matches, two adrift of early leaders Bordeaux.

PSG skipper Zlatan Ibrahimovic comforts St Etienne keeper Stephane Ruffier after his mistake

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Source: BBC Sport

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Despite being loaned to Sochaux for the second part of last season, the player was considered as not being a part of new manager Marcelo Bielsa’s plans for the new season and thus was forced to look elsewhere for first-team action.

Ayew is pleased at the switch and he explained that the outlay of Lorient made the decision to sign easy on his part.

“The style and quality of players talked about here suit me perfectly. I am equally impressed with the infrastructures at Lorient. They will help us to work well and thus, we will improve over time.

I will will try to bring my experience to the group so that we can reach the collective goals set by the club,”said Ayew to the club’s official website, www.fclweb.fr on Monday soon after signing.

The club’s Director Arnaud Tanguy expressed their pleasure at gaining the services of the 22-year old who was part of Ghana’s 2014 World Cup team in Brazil.

” We are very happy at this arrival. It is a bet for the future and it shows how willing we are, as a club, to continue with his development. Jordan comes to Lorient to take up a sporting challenge and to place his talents at the service of Lorient in order that we get to new ambitious heights.”

The club finished 8th last season with 49 points.

Ayew, who will be wearing the number 11 jersey at Lorient, leaves Marseille after playing in the senior side since 2009 with 111 appearances and 14 goals. He will be teaming up with Cameroonian forward Vincent Aboubakar and former Arsenal striker Jeremy Aliadiere.

By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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