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Camfed increases bursary support for girls

The Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) continues to make strides in promoting girls’ education in some parts of the country. As a result, the organisation has increased its bursary support for girls from 16,000 to over 32,000  this academic year .

The organisation has also increased the number of its beneficiary schools and districts to 800 and 30 respectively. Camfed began operations in the country in 1998, focusing on female education and women’s empowerment in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Central regions.

Apart from the provision of scholarships to girls, Camfed also presents teaching and learning materials to schools, offers career guidance, counselling and internships, while investing in teacher  and skills development training, among others.

Speaking at the annual general meeting (AGM)of the organisation in Tamale on Wednesday, the Executive Director of Camfed, Mrs Dolores Dickson, said her outfit was also strengthening its collaboration with its stakeholders to improve on the quality of teaching and learning in the schools.

The AGM,  which was on the theme: “Monitoring and measurement as a means of improving educational outcomes: every stakeholder counts,” brought together members of district education committees, teacher mentors, parent support groups, members of school management committees, students and other collaborators.

According to Mrs Dickson, Camfed has  introduced another initiative dubbed: “MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme” to respond to the needs of beneficiary girls.

The programme seeks to support girls who are academically talented but financially challenged to further their education and harness their potential to develop their communities and the nation.

“This AGM has come at a very important time, a time when Camfed, as an organisation, is looking to develop a five-year strategic plan that will span from 2014-2018 to consolidate our gains and address our challenges,” the director indicated.

The Director of Girls’ Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service, Mrs Matilda Bannerman-Mensah, underscored the importance of female education and observed that the successes chalked up in that sector so far had been the cumulative efforts of all stakeholders.

She, however, commended the staff and management of Camfed for the various initiatives and innovations it had introduced to fast-track the process, particularly in the northern parts of the country where girls’ enrolment in schools was not very encouraging.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Northern Regional Minister, Mr Bede Ziedeng, also acknowledged the immense contribution of Camfed to girls’ education and women’s empowerment in the region over the years.

“I consider Camfed’s work as very timely in an era where women’s education and role in development can no longer be taken for granted; there are countless examples of women who have lived to prove that educating the woman is of enormous benefit to her family and the community and nation as a whole,” he stated.

By Zakaria Alhassan/Daily Graphic/Ghana

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