International non-profit organization Right To Play is supporting the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education of Sierra Leone to implement play-based learning in its curriculum.
As part of the support, it facilitated a bilateral learning exchange on quality education between the two countries with stakeholders from Sierra Leone arriving in Ghana last week for a series of activities.
The Sierra Leonean delegation which was led by Education Minister Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, paid a courtesy call on Ghana’s Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum to discuss key areas for cooperation between the two.
Both parties also made presentations about reforms being undertaken in the respective countries and the results already being chalked from their work.
This was followed by a site visit to Mallam and Gbawe in Accra where Right to Play Ghana is implementing play-based methodologies in the school’s curriculum.
David Sengeh speaking on the sidelines of a conference on the integration of play-based learning in education systems said:
“Sierra Leone is open to experimenting different approaches to ensure that children get the best quality education and their total development positively impacted. We came to Ghana to see what Ghana is doing in terms of play-based methodology, teacher training among others and to see how our two countries can further bilateral relations focused on education. One of the great opportunities we have seen is our love for innovation,” he said.
He added that: “Our goal is that what is working in Ghana and being tested in Sierra Leone, we can learn and see what programs really lead to better learning outcomes. We have seen from the data in Ghana that Right To Play programs and play-based methodologies in the country and other interventions shows an improvement in learning outcomes; numeracy, literacy and confidence in children.”
The Ghana Country Director for Right To Play, Josephine Mukakalisa said Right To Play Ghana is sharing its over 10 years’ experience with Sierra Leone to enable them to understand the best practices involved in incorporating play in learning at the basic levels.
“We’ve been implementing the program in Ghana since 2001 but for Sierra Leone it is going to be the beginning. They have come to learn the best practices, the successes and strategies they can adopt to start integrating play-based learning. In Ghana we have been supporting the government at the level of curriculum development and so on so we believe that the work we do in Ghana will be inspiring to Sierra Leone,” she said.
Right To Play has been working in Ghana since 2000 and has been at the forefront of using play-based learning to improve education outcomes and ensure holistic development of pupils across its implementing regions; Greater Accra (Ga South), Volta (Keta) and Northern (Kumbungu, Savelugu and Tolon).
Data so far shows improvement in the performance of pupils whose learning is done through play compared to their counterparts who are yet to be exposed to play-based learning.
Additionally, reports confirm that pupils exposed to play-based learning develop other important life skills including communication skills and leadership skills and imbibes confidence in pupils.
