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The Israeli Government through its embassy in Ghana, have trained 40 selected Kindergarten teachers from five districts in the northern Ghana. The teachers selected from Kpandai, Central Gonja, Tamale Metropolis, Karaga and Gushegu districts, benefited from the 10-day intensive training organized by Mashav, an Israeli Agency for International Development Cooperation. Speaking at the end of the training in Tamale, Mr Eyal Lampert Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israel Embassy in Accra said the project, which started with five schools and 25 teachers four years ago, had so far trained over 200 teachers in Accra and Kumasi. He said early childhood education programme required low budgets and had great value, as it laid the sound foundation to raise a generation of curious children, who would be critical thinkers. Mr Lampert said the training had empowered participants to become mediators between the child and the world, stimulate indoor and outdoor learning environment in the kindergarten as well as bring outside world into the kindergarten education. �It builds a flexible curriculum and daily schedule based on the children�s world and provides opportunities for developing creativity through various forms of playing activities�, he said. Alhaji Naa Bukari Yakubu, Principal of the Tamale College of Education, said people had the wrong notion that early childhood training was irrelevant and stressed that it played a crucial role in the growth of the child. He called on parents to make education of their children at the early stages a priority to enhance their physical, emotional, social and intellectual development. Alhaji Haruna Friday, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), said the initiative would complement efforts of successive governments to bridge the educational gap between the south and the northern part of the country. He expressed worry about the abysmal performance of the region at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the past ten years and urged beneficiaries to put to use all that had been taught to help reverse the trend. The MCE said though formal education reached the region late, teachers could help improve the situation if they worked hard by discharging their duties with passion, diligence and dedication. Hajia Abramani Zaratu, Tamale Metro Early Childhood Coordinator told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the training had introduced new and effective methods and skills of educating children. The participants were taught topics including teacher and games learning, human sense, basic cognitive skills, games and motivation as well as classroom arrangement and management.