The Education Bridge project was so-called as it aimed to bridge the gap between the education policies of Ghana and the reality experienced by children in marginalised communities, where barriers were preventing policies being realised. The purpose of the project was to contribute to Ghana’s attainment of Millennium Development Goal 2; to ensure universal provision and attainment of primary education, by ensuring that all children within its operational areas are in school and receiving quality education whilst there. Ultimately, the project aimed at empowering civil society to be able to contribute to bringing about the achievement of universal primary education. The objectives of the Project were to increase the understanding of parents and care givers about the education services available and enable them to demonstrable commitment to their children’s education; enable schools to adopt and replicate AfriKids’ Child Rights Clubs model as a means to motivating enrolment and retention; enhance the capacity of the GES to practically apply their own good governance models; and enable communities to adopt the AfriKids community education campaign and advocacy model to help ensure enrolment and retention of pupils in school.
Results:
- 4% increase in girls enrolled in school from baseline to the end of the project, against a target of 73% (from 24,327 girls in the 2010/2011 academic year to 46,327 in March 2015).
- 8% increase in boys enrolled in school from baseline to the end of the project, against a target of 78% (from 25,057 boys in the 2010/2011 academic year to 47,549 by March 2015).
- 6% of parents and caregivers claimed that all children 12 years and below in their household were enrolled in and attending school. Out of this, 92.6% claimed that these enrolments had taken place within the past four years (during the project).
- 8% increase in average school attendance from baseline to end of the project, with up to 84% attendance from girls.
- On average 89.1% of parents and caregivers were committed to the education and expressed their willingness to put their children in school, far exceeding the baseline value of 64% of parents expressing their willingness to increase the number of children they were supporting in school as at July, 2011.
- At the start of the project, 34% of the target schools had some form of child rights clubs, by the end of the project this was 100%.
- By the end of the project, 10,870 children were enrolled in Child Rights Clubs (53.6% female).
- 70% of CRC members demonstrated knowledge of their rights, and a sixteen item graded test was administered to 291 students in the 15 sampled schools on “Knowledge of Specific Issues relating to their Rights” produced an average score of 82%.
- When asked to give examples of child rights abuses, top responses from CRC members included child labour (87%) and denying a child their right to education (73%).
- 60% of target School Management Committees (SMCs) could point to tangible changes they had made to improve schools. Evidenced examples included motivating teachers to conduct extra classes; mobilising the community to clean the school; repairing broken furniture; lobbying the District Assembly to supply a borehole; raising funds to construct an ICT centre and a library; building a pavilion at a KG; and building accommodation for teachers and trainee teachers.
- 3% of 15 sampled SMCs and PTAs stated that they had made efforts to ensure that children with disabilities were enrolled and retained in school and that parents provided all their children with required teaching and learning materials. 66.7% claimed they supported the Headteacher and staff to protect school property and monitored the attendance and performance of teachers and pupils.
- 95 people (11 female) were trained as Community Education Campaigners (CECs) to encourage provision and uptake of education in their communities, and 61% of interviewed parents and caregivers were aware of the CECs in their communities. 80% confirmed specific activities undertaken by CECs to promote education including in one example, getting local press coverage which resulted in a school receiving donations of needed furniture.
- Child Rights Clubs (CRCs) established in all of the target 251 schools and remained active in 89% of them, against a baseline of 34%.
- 70,440 children improved their understanding of their right to an education and other human rights.
- School management committees (SMCs) were established and remained active in 86% of schools.