Child marriage rife in North East Gonja
A research in the North East Gonja District of the Savannah Region has revealed that child marriage is on the increase in the district due to the lack of school infrastructure in the communities.
The research conducted by a not-for-profit organisation based in northern Ghana, WUZDA Ghana, said its recent research in the North East Gonja District revealed that most of the basic schools in the communities did not have classroom facilities which deterred children from being in school and eventually ended up being married off.
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In a stakeholder engagement meeting in Tamale last Monday, the Gender Desk Officer for WUZDA Ghana, Ms Felicia Kaawie indicated that the research aimed at identifying the challenges girls faced in the district which often lead them into early marriages.
According to Ms Kaawie, aside from the girls who were given out for marriages, others travelled to the southern part of the country to work as head porters, adding that some ended up getting unplanned pregnancies.
"Once they drop out of school, they are tempted to think that they are mature for marriage. Some too travel down south to serve as head porters but it is not everyday that they get money from that work. But the fact that they have to eat whether they make money or not pushes some of them to give themselves to men," she said.
Effects
The study was undertaken in the Dakpemyili and Jantong Fushilla communities in the district
Ms Kaawie stressed the negative health and social implications child marriages had on the victims.
"Early marriages expose the girl child to a lot of health implications. Once the child gets married, the next thing is that she gets pregnant and some die in the process of child birth because they are not mature enough," she stated.
The gender desk officer further indicated that when some of these children gave birth, they were unable to take proper care of themselves and their children, which she said exposed both mothers and the children to diseases.
Infrastructure challenges
Ms Kaawie further indicated that the study showed that aside from lack of classroom blocks, there were no toilet facilities in most of the schools, leaving schoolchildren to practice open defecation around the school premises.
“Apart from the infrastructure, the research showed that some students stayed away from school with the reason that the school feeding programme was not taking place in those school, which made the children go hungry in school.”
Project
The Programme Manager of WUZDA Ghana, Mr Abdul-Karim Ziblim, said the project, known as "An Optimised A-24-Y Project", was aimed at emphasising and enhancing education in the North East Gonja District.
He said it sought to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal four (SDG 4).
"We want the people of the district to understand that without education, we cannot move forward. So we thought it wise to bring the teachers and parents together to reflect on the challenges and the way forward," he stated.
Mr Ziblim further indicated that since the government alone could not solve the education challenges in the area and the country at large, there was the need for collective efforts from government, parents and other stakeholders.
North East Gonja
The Budget Officer of the North East Gonja District, Mr Osman Alhassan, indicated that the district was barely two years old and as such, it was faced with numerous challenges.
He also admitted that the challenges in the education sector in the district was across almost all the schools.
He appealed to parents whose wards do not enjoy the school feeding programme to take the responsibility of providing food for them before they go to school.
"When the children wake up in the morning, the parents should try as much as possible to prepare them some food so that they do not run away from school as a result of hunger," Mr Alhassan said.