Right To Play and LFC Foundation launch major early childhood education project in Ghana

Right To Play and our partners LFC Foundation – the official charity of Liverpool Football Club – have launched a new project that will help improve early childhood education for more than 650,000 children in Ghana.

Over the next three years, the project will strengthen kindergarten education systems and provide high-quality training, coaching and mentoring for more than 14,500 teachers. The aim is to help more young children learn through play and develop the skills they need to thrive in school and beyond.

The project will reach approximately 652,500 children aged four and five across eight regions of Ghana and will be delivered in partnership with Ghana's Ministry of Education and other key education stakeholders.

Play-based learning is fundamental to early childhood education, helping children build literacy, numeracy, cognitive, social and emotional skills during the most important years of their development.

While Ghana has made significant progress in expanding access to kindergarten education, many teachers still lack training in the use of effective play-based teaching methods needed to fully implement the national kindergarten curriculum.

As a result, too many children are missing out on the strong foundations they need for future learning. National assessments show that almost two-thirds of nine-year-old children in Ghana lack early reading skills and more than one-third lack early numeracy skills by Grade Two.

Matt Parish, chief executive of LFC Foundation, said: "Every child deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and reach their full potential.

"Through partnering with Right To Play we are investing in children during these crucial early years to help create stronger foundations for lifelong learning and future success.”

Gillian McMahon, Executive Director at Right To Play UK, said: “We are incredibly proud to be working with our partners LFC Foundation on this ambitious and impactful project in Ghana. The early years are critical to a child’s development, and play-based learning is one of the most effective ways to help children build the literacy, numeracy, social and emotional skills they need to thrive.

"Together, we are supporting the Government of Ghana’s vision for quality kindergarten education while helping ensure that hundreds of thousands of children have the opportunity to learn in safe, inclusive and engaging environments.”

Right To Play and LFC Foundation have worked together in partnership since 2019, delivering transformative projects that have helped thousands of children across Thailand, Senegal, Tanzania and Ethiopia to overcome barriers, stay in school and develop critical life skills through the power of sport and play.

Right To Play has been working in Ghana since 2001, helping children access quality education and develop the skills they need to reach their full potential. This new project builds on that long-term commitment and will help ensure that hundreds of thousands more children have the opportunity to learn, play and thrive.