The Kindergarten makeover

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I don't know about you, but it can feel really overwhelming listening to all the negative news around us. That's why I think more people should be listening to People Fixing the World. It's an opportunity to be inspired by individuals who have dedicated themselves. To change our world for the better. So go ahead and share some positive news with someone today. Yeah. Welcome to People Fixing the World from the BBC World Service. With me, Myra Anubi.

On this program, we believe anyone can make a difference. And we're on a mission to prove it. Today we're in the West African country of Ghana, meeting remarkable mothers. Women who with little to no education are happily getting involved in what their children are learning. Because I did not go to school, I am really struggling in life.

And I don't want any of my children to go through what I am going through. I want them to be better. That is why I am so interested in coming here to help their children. It's easy to assume that the most important years of a child's education are when they're older and learning detailed facts about the world. But there's a lot of evidence now that suggests the first years are the most crucial ones.

Shaping children's social and emotional skills, and crucially setting a foundation for their future learning and health. Now, there's one African country that's using an unexpected approach to get kids better education, Ghana. Joining me down the line now from the capital city, Accra, is our reporter, Justice Bedou. Justice, I wonder how was it like for you going to school in Ghana?

Hello Myra. I loved going to school. I was very good in reading subjects like English language and social studies, but hated others like mathematics. Oh well, you're not alone, sorry. When I first did go to school, preschool education was not common, and many people, including myself, started school later than we should have. But now this is changing. Hm. I know though that Ghana has pushed for free education for children for many years now.

Yes, that's correct. Ghana was the first country to rule out compulsory early years education in Africa and this is about twenty years ago. So children age four and over are obliged to go to school every day in this country. It was part of a global push to get more children in education all around the world. But in Ghana at least. Thus investment has not really paid off. Hm. There was something similar in Kenya with free education, but the issue was schools suddenly just had a lot more students.

But there weren't enough teachers or even basic things like books and desks for everyone. Exactly the problem that we two have had here in Ghana. So the number of children who haven't gone to school has reduced dramatically if you look at the numbers. Which is great. But the educational outcomes of children have also gone down. Big class sizes are a factor. They encourage a style of teaching called chalk and talk, where teachers stand at the front of the class, usually talking in English.

and children try to follow along. It's sad really if you think about the fact that these are kids who should be learning through play and creativity. Yes. So for children between the ages of four and six, the government now wants to do away with this old ways of learning and now introduce more playful ways within which children can learn. But of course it's hard for one teacher in a big class to play with dozens of children. Mm, it's hard for me with w two kids. I imagine what that's like.

From a teacher with many more. And this is actually the interesting part. They're enlisting the help of mothers to do this. How exactly does that work? Well that's right. Mothers across Ghana are now being asked to go into their children's schools and help at play sessions at the start of the school day.

Even women who never went to school themselves are being encouraged to go now and help their teachers. So this is a big project. I went to see it for myself early in the morning at the Bofokrum MAKG School near Sunani in central Ghana. It's early in the morning, and children from surrounding villages are starting their school day with a playgroup.

What's happening now is children who have just finished washing their hands and taking off their shoes and getting into their classrooms. The classrooms have mats. that have been laid down and each mat has one mother seated on it waiting for the kids to come around and whilst one mother sits about six Children surround hair.

And they get ready to begin the class. No madam. The school has no toys or building bricks or craft materials that you might expect to see in a kindergarten in Europe or North America. Instead each of the mothers has a game in front of her on her mat and is interacting with the children. I start by sitting with a mum called Cecilia. Her hair is beautifully made and like the other mums, she is wearing a bright t-shirt with a big smile. She speaks to children in the local language.

The mother is showing the photographs. the local names, especially for the DN. For a Ghanaian school, this is really unusual. I mean, Having mothers come here and show the pictures for children to mention to look at pictures and then mention them in their local language. It's amazing. Your friend is saying Yoma. Cecilia is now saying giraffe. Again, although I speak tree, I did not know this word. At my school, we learned the names of things in English from books.

Cecilia never saw those books because she never went to school. So here, speaking this language, she is the expert. She is treated with respect by the teacher and called Madame by the children. Regional manager of the program, Philip Dokurobu, is in the class watching on with me. Younger children growing up, we know they spend most of their time with their mothers. So this now is like an extension of the home where the child continues to learn from the mother. So it makes sense.

most of the things, most of the communication that goes on between the mother and the children is a local language. The children do still study English in classes, but the playgroup always takes place in their own language. We'll hear more from Cecilia a bit later on. But now it's changed over time. The children all get up and go to the next mile. Where they sit carefully in a row facing a new mother. Each mat has a game that teaches a different scale. Everything is very well structured.

The games have all been taught to the mothers in detail. This mother that I've just come to has uh relatively younger kit. around her and what she's doing is taking them through how to count. Helping them pick boxes small boxes that they are able to count in the local language and then they are able to find the corresponding number The fun carries on outside. Because of the large class sizes, children alternate between indoor and outdoor playgroups.

The first game that you're playing today was a game that's a little bit more than a little bit of a little is played in circles and someone has to run around and pick one out. And then once you are picked out you need to run the opposite direction and come and make sure you get to the same empty sp spot before the other person that picked you gets back. And if you don't then you are out. It's the end of the preschool club and the kids go on to their regular classes.

This is a bit more like the traditional mode of we are used to with the children sitting at desks and the teachers speaking from the front of the class. The children look like they are having a lot of fun, but do they like having their mums in school? I spoke to 10-year-old Prince whose mother, Matilda, takes part in the program. I am always happy with my mom teaching you a school. She likes her, she likes her, she likes her, she likes her, she likes her, she likes her, she likes her.

The headmaster at the school, Edward Amankwa, tells me that before they introduced the playgroup, parents had to beat the kids to make them go to school. They're preschool children. And it's not just the children that are coming to school more often. Like many schools in Ghana, Mr. Amankwa's school used to have a problem with teacher absenteeism. But since this program came in, that too has reduced a lot. I think once they see their mothers are here

If he misses class, they will get to know that this teacher doesn't come to school or comes early. So it has reduced that. a bad behavior of teachers. Yes, because the mothers have become part of the school. So you can't do anything you want. The games were all developed and designed by an international charity called Lively Minds. The organization has been in Ghana for 18 years working on this kindergarten process.

but now they are in the process of handing it over to the Ghanaian government. Okay, so my name is Fayuda Tuyakubu. I work for Lively Mines Ghana as the country director. In Ghana, people actually enroll their children in school and for the entire life of their child in the school, their parents never step a foot there. They're not lively minds. We believe that parents are the sleeping giants of education.

And once we tap them um to ensure that they are awake, then they can drive change in the early childhood developments of their children. The program allows young children to have one-to-one contact with an adult. Even with Ghana's large class size. But it's not just focused on teaching at school. There are simple activities such as counting trees on your way to the farm. such as identifying vegetables in the kitchen when you are cooking.

simple things that you can do with your child that helps the child to learn even though you have not been in school but also it's part of your daily activities that you already do. And so those parents have been empowered to believe that they have their skills, they have what it takes to support their children to learn, and they are doing that.

Vi har fått in lemon med på skull. Hej, Alexandra Rapoport här. Jag spelar Veronika Gren i serien Veronika. Jag undrar om du har sett mil. Du är inte fattar. Det är det vi har att göra med. Den här utredningen som ni håller på med, den börjar bli lite. Problematisk för oss. Streamar Veronica Säsong Trén nu. Bara på Sky Showtime. Hos oss får du en skinande renbil. Och medlemsrabatt på alla våra bil. Du väljer själv om du vill sätta med eller utan botten.

Enkelt och hållbart från endast 159 kronor. Välkommen till Circule Key! You're listening to People Fixing the World from the BBC World Service. And today we're talking about how Ghana is adopting a more playful approach to early years education.

I'm still joined by our reporter, Justice Bedou, down the line from the capital city Accra. Justice, I wonder, this is all about improving children's outcomes, right? But has it worked? Yeah, well, it seemed to have worked. In 2018, researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial of this particular program. And they found that children who had been on the program improved their numeracy.

cognitive ability and emotional development. And this was especially marked in children from more disadvantaged backgrounds like the Buffal Chrome School where I went to. Now the question is: Will these benefits hold up when the program is expanded across the country? There has been some research work that suggests that this would be the case. But that is yet to be published. Hmm. And how many schools are we talking about here?

So at the moment the programme is active in around three thousand five hundred schools. It is thought that the cost to the government will be around three dollars per child. Per year. Mm-hmm. Although, Justice, I'm just thinking here as a mother myself. All of this sounds great, but it sounds like more work for these women. Oh yes, it definitely is. And they are already so busy. This village is a farming community and women are needed to work in the field.

as well as doing all the child care and the housework. So the enrolment of mothers has been a really big challenge. And in fact, it is so difficult to get mothers to commit to going to school that the playgroup element of this project might get dropped when the project expands to some cities. Hold on, I'm confused here. Isn't the playgroup the whole point of the project? Yes, yes, that is a a big part of the program. But that is not the only thing. One of the other elements is a radio show.

So one this video show is aimed at fathers as well as mothers and it gives them ideas. playing games with children at home as well as education and health information. Another key element of the project and one that will definitely continue everywhere else is the parenting workshops. Mothers who have signed up go on eight days of training. They learn all the games I saw in the playgroup and they have a lot of fun too. So the there's a new trainer who is

Trying to teach them how to spell. And the funny way to let them grasp the spelling is to turn their back. to the audience and then use their buttons to demonstrate the alphabet. So they basically Need to move their back. So Justice, did you join in with the women? It was really tempting, Maria, and I couldn't resist. Oh, I wish I wish I could see this. But something else that I've picked up really from what you've shared is that

The mothers are learning as well as the children. I think that's right. The main aim of this project is to improve education for the children. But the women who I have met taking part in this project have also reported that their confidence and self-belief levels have gone up. And they feel now that they are more respected at home and in their communities. Women like Cecilia, you remember the woman who was running the reading program earlier. She's a mother of four and a grandmother.

I have never been to school in my life. When this project started and they asked us to come in and help teach the children. I said, not me. I can't do that because I don't know how to do it. It was my church leader who encouraged me to come. He told me it was going to help me and I would be able to play more with my own grandchildren if I joined the programme.

So I signed up to be part of it. And what I have realized since we started is that even my children who have been to secondary school are unable to do some of the things I can do now. There are things like the colors of the sky. They don't know, but I do. So now I am very much convinced that I know many things. So now I am very confident woman. When I step out, everyone starts calling my name. Madame, Madame, Madame.

Speaking to the other women, a lot of them have been on a journey, overcoming skepticism in their communities to take on a new role. When we started, nobody believed in us. They would laugh at us and mock us. They said we were old women who were going to school. But since we started, it's really helped us. We've learned a lot that also helps us to teach our children. In the past I didn't even know colours.

Now I know I know I can teach my children at home the color red, black, and many more. Some mothers have even picked up new skills like telling the time, for example. This program has brought a lot of happiness for someone who didn't even know what number one was. Now I know about numbers. I can identify one, two, six, seven. I did not know any of this and now I do. nowadays I even have a watch, because I can read a watch. Look at my beautiful watch!

And so as early as 6 a.m., I tell my kids, guys, hurry up, hurry up. Or you will be late for school. I have become so happy knowing I am also a teacher now. I think there's a lot that we could all learn from these women, Justice. Thank you so much for what we've heard today. Thank you, Myra. Now, before we finish, I've got a treat for you.

A couple of weeks back, we did a program that focused on how poetry can make a difference in our lives. And at the end of it, I asked if you could send us a line or two that we could use to make a People Fixing the World poem, and boy did you guys come through. We got a lot of lovely messages from all around the world, from Nigeria to America. Now we passed all those messages to the poet Livalk, who then put them all together into a poem titled Things I Love About People. And here's the poem.

Oh people. Make me laugh my head off. Go on, human. Fascinate me. Appall me. We are the songs in other people's playlists. Photos on the inside of eyelids. Eight billion stories on a tiny planet making art. Cherry tree confetti to deface hate. To smother concrete. Vibrant varieties, you they We, she, we, different colours inside out, but all born from the same star. Warm skin, fresh sweat, collective power, generosity, opposable thumbs.

We bleed when cut, cry when hurt, dance in the kitchen. Yes, we've messed things up. But our words have power. The rehydration of hope turning into fuel, to fire, to trying. The rucksack we wear sags under the weight of who knows what, but there's a general type of resilience that we all have. People being people, where tolerance for imperfections grow in a garden of crocuses, lifting their yellow and purple heads to greet the morning sun.

The thing I love about people is how they love and how far that love ripples. We hold in our handshakes, in our hugs, a human need for connection, building community wherever we go. May we always hang on to it. After all, we are simply stardust apes with quite clever thumbs. The line that really stood out for me there was the rehydration of hope.

Something that we're constantly speaking about on this program. Live talk with that poem. Now I'll be back next week with more positive stories and uplifting news from all around the world. Until then, thanks for listening. Du, jag skulle ju köpa några nya palpstält i lagret. Det kanske blev lite mer grejer. De hade ju allt, de hade en skribord, jag köpte en sån här, och kontorstolar, och så hade de en skitsnyg Typ. Vi har inredning för hela arbetsplatsen. Välkommen till AGR.

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