Early childhood care must not be left in the hands of unprofessional and untrained caregivers if we care for the future our children, the Principal of Human Touch Foundation Early Childhood Teacher Training Centre, Pastor Jonas Henaku has warned.

“If we continue to leave early childhood care in the hands of Junior High and Senior High school drop-outs who themselves need training and guidance, then the future of our children is questionable,“ he said.

Speaking at the fourth graduation ceremony of the Human Touch Foundation institute at Labone in Accra on Saturday, Pastor Henaku called on government to enforce the training of early childhood caregivers and teachers at the early childhood education level.

“The future of children lies with the foundation that is laid at the early childhood development stage,” he said.

The Principal suggested the organization of short courses to equip untrained caregivers and teachers, and also called for a system to monitor the activities of caregivers employed in schools.

He also said graduates who come from the universities and have been professionally equipped to handle children should offer themselves to support the training of child education.

The Human Touch Early Childhood Teacher Training Centre is affiliated to Fan the Flame Ministry in US and is an approved Ghana Education Service child development teacher training centre in the country.

The Director of the institute, Bishop Dusan Pobee said, Since its inception in 2008, it had grown from strength to strength with immense support from the Ghana Education Service.

He said “education is the most viable instrument for social, economic and mental changes that equip individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills and values crucial for civic order, citizenship, sustainable development and poverty reduction.”

Commenting the course on behalf of the graduates, Ms Emelia Anang, the course prefect in summary said, "We have been academically baptized, inducted with professional and practical teaching techniques and skills for the effective handling of children."

She said the course had given them insights which include child psychology and its relevance to teaching attitudes and skills of teachers, and their effects to the teaching and learning experience and the influence of the home and social environment.

The seventeen (17) students, who graduated from the school, studied courses such as principles of teaching, child training and care giving principles, teaching methodology, introduction to early childhood education and introduction to child psychology.

The school’s ideology is premised on the philosophy that, understanding human development is the key to effective education that leads to real transformation.**