MasterCard Foundation supports girls education
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) puts school enrolment in sub-Saharan Africa at 43 per cent, with more than 21.6 million people of lower secondary school age without the hope of ever stepping foot in school.
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According to UNESCO, the region is on record as the one with the lowest rates of enrolment in secondary and tertiary education.
In Ghana, even though appreciable progress has been made towards achieving equal access to and gender parity in education, especially at the primary level, boys still outnumber girls in schools, while education remains a mirage, particularly for the poorest and most-disadvantaged girls.
In a news release issued to mark the International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC) on October 11, 2013, the United Nations Resident Representative in Ghana, Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, noted that there were regional inequities in girls’ education in Ghana and that girls from the poorest households in the Northern Region were nearly three times more likely to be out of school compared with the national average, while fewer than 45 per cent of girls attended secondary school.
The Executive Director of Campaign for Female Education -Ghana (Camfed-Ghana), Mrs Dolores Dickson, has noted that a well-educated workforce is bound to provide a substantial impetus to the engine of economic growth needed in Africa, particularly when Africa’s young people under the age of 25 would have reached an estimated one billion by 2020.
MasterCard Foundation
The MasterCard Foundation Scholars programme is a 10-year, US$500-million initiative which seeks to educate and develop the next generation of leaders to contribute to social and economic progress. The programme enables young people from economically-disadvantaged communities to complete quality secondary and tertiary education and make successful transitions to further their education or to the workforce in their home countries.
Through collaboration with its partner organisations in 46 countries, the programme identifies academically-talented young people with a demonstrable commitment to education. Through the MasterCard Foundation/ Camfed partnership, which was launched in Accra on October 11, 2013, The MasterCard Foundation, a Toronto-based independent, global organisation, will assist Camfed-Ghana with US$41.7 million to support 4,000 girls through senior high school (SHS) and 2,000 young women through tertiary education in Ghana.
Under the partnership, the first class of 70 tertiary scholars have already gained admissions for the 2013 academic year to a number of partner tertiary institutions, while the first class of 720 secondary scholars will join the programme for the 2013/2014 academic year at selected Ghana Education Service (GES) category A and B SHSs in the Central, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.
The comprehensive scholarship package for the secondary scholars will include bursaries, life skills camps and extra tuition, where needed, while the tertiary scholars will receive tuition fees, textbooks, accommodation, transportation, meals, laptops and Internet modems, a living and communication stipend and career service programmes in the final year.
Camfed package
The Camfed package forms part of the global education initiative of The MasterCard Foundation for three new partners, Camfed, Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and BRAC (based in Uganda)—a development organisation formed in Bangladesh in 1922 and global leader in creating opportunities at scale as a means to end poverty—who will administer comprehensive scholarships worth US$106 million to support approximately 11,000 secondary students in Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda and Ethiopia, 80 per cent of whom will be girls.
In the words of Reeta Roy, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The MasterCard Foundation, “Completion of secondary school is vital to helping the youth find jobs, start businesses and bring about change in their communities. Our partnerships with Camfed, FAWE and BRAC prioritise secondary education for girls.”
