The Deputy Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Hon. Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba has called on Early Childhood Care and Development practitioners to be committed and dedicated to their work to ensure the proper training of children in the country.

Hon. Boya Gariba stressed that the kind of guidance and training a child received in his or her early formative years contributed largely to the future character of that child.

The Deputy Minister made the call when she paid a working visit to the National Nursery Teacher’s Training Centre in Accra.

The visit was to enable the Deputy Minister familiarize her self with activities and programmes of the centre and also discuss ways of strengthening collaboration between the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) and the Centre.

Hon. Boya Gariba said that MOWAC will liaise with the Ghana Education Service to work out ways of establishing regional and district offices of the Centre. This will enable practitioners in other regions take advantage of the useful training programmes being undertaken by the Centre.

The Officer-in-Charge of the Centre, Mrs. Evelyn Quartey-Papafio said that the training being offered by the Centre had contributed largely in raising the quality and enrollment in Early Childhood Care and Development Centres. She lauded the formulation of the Early Childhood Care and Development Policy, saying that the policy had brought a sense of direction in Early Childhood Care and Development in the country.

Mrs. Quartey-Papafio briefed the Hon. Deputy Minister on activities and programmes of the Centre. The Centre runs four Early Childhood Care and Development skills training programmes in a year. Participants are taken through various courses such as Child Development, Language Development, Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Play and Building Relationships. The Centre undertakes outreach skills training programmes in all parts of the country and is also involved in activities of other MDAs which involves training of children in their early years.

The Centre which is managed by the Ghana Education Service with support from Development Partners such as UNICEF also runs a Model Nursery School for children between the ages of 3 -6 years.

The Hon. Deputy Minister and her entourage were treated to interesting poetry recitals and nursery rhymes by participants at the centre.

In a related development, the Deputy Minister, Hon. Boya Gariba has paid a visit to the Department of Children (DOC) of MOWAC to interact with staff of the Department and discuss ways of working efficiently and dedicatedly to advance the cause of children in the country.

ADIZA OFORI-ADU (MRS.)
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER