Background

USAID supports access to quality education. The program places special attention on: improving the number and percentage of children who enroll in school, especially girls; ensuring that the majority of children who complete primary school are able to read at grade level understanding; improving the management and accountability of school systems; increasing community involvement in schools and education in general; and preventing HIV/AIDS in the education sector.

USAID/Ghana Education Activities Include:

Increasing Access to Education: USAID supports the establishment of complementary education centers in northern Ghana for school-age children, particularly girls who, for varying reasons, are unable to access and participate in formal schools. USAID also provides scholarships to girls at risk of not completing their primary education.

Improving the Quality of Instruction in Primary Schools: USAID helps to ensure that children who enter and complete primary school are able to read with understanding. USAID's programs in this area include an innovative initiative to improve reading comprehension by teaching Grade 1 children to read in their local language before making a transition to English.

Increasing Community Involvement in Education. USAID supports efforts to increase the level of parental and community involvement in schools as well as parallel efforts to increase the capacity of parents and communities to lobby for school improvements.

Improving Management and Accountability of Schools: USAID provides grants to districts to help them to improve their education planning and management capacity, particularly in terms of skills related to improving the quality of education.

Preventing HIV/AIDS and Reducing its Impact in the Education Sector: USAID makes grants available to civil society groups to provide school-based peer HIV/AIDS prevention messages. USAID also helps teacher training colleges to provide HIV/AIDS education to its teacher trainees, so they are better prepared to address HIV/AIDS issues in their schools and communities.

Highlights of USAID/Ghana Education Success through 2005

• Increased Access to Quality Basic Education:
  USAID has established 401 complementary education centers where school-age children, who are unable to attend formal schools in northern Ghana, receive classroom instruction after normal school hours. In addition, 300 community teachers have been trained and placed in rural underserved schools.
  
• Improved Reading Instructional Practices: USAID expanded its coverage to a total of 685 schools in 12 districts to encourage teaching Grade 1 children to read in their local language before making a transition to English. To sustain the program, a cadre of trainers has been established to provide district level training to teachers.
  
  
• Improved Management Capacity and Accountability: Grants were disbursed to twelve District Education Offices to organize town hall meetings that solicited input on how to use the grants. As a result, there has been a noticeable increase in participatory management practices and in the use of community feedback to enhance education-related decisions. USAID also trained School Management Committees (SMCs) and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) from 140 communities.
  
  
• Administration of a New Basic Education Testing Regimen: With USAID support, a nationwide test has successfully been administered in randomly selected schools to provide useful information on student achievement to policy makers, education inspectors and the community.
  
  
• Reduced Transmission and Impact of HIV/AIDS: In-service teacher training adopted an HIV/AIDS curriculum and 75 tutors received training-of-trainers instruction on the curriculum. These in turn, trained 25,711 teacher trainees in the HIV/AIDS curriculum.