Camfed promotes girls’ education
Ever since the Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) was established in the country about six years ago, the women-centred non-governmental organisation (NGO) continues to offer hope to the hopeless and opportunities for underprivileged girls.
Advertisement
The organisation has significantly changed the lives of its beneficiaries through the disbursement of bursaries, distribution of food items, teaching and learning materials and other such support to needy girls in its operational areas in the country.
A Desk Secretary of the Tolon District Education Committee, one of the beneficiary districts of Camfed’s intervention in the Northern region, Mr Robert Abudu Mahama, noted that but for the support of the organisation, most female pupils and students in the area would have dropped out of school due to poverty.
He mentioned the provision of food items such as rice, cooking oil, sugar and soap for female students of the Tolon Senior High School (SHS) and the distribution of school uniforms, footwear, books and other teaching and learning materials for pupils.
“In these areas, some of the interventions by Camfed have encouraged school enrolment and retention in the district.”
According to the desk officer, basic school heads were also presented with some funds to identify needy pupils selected by a committee in their respective schools for assistance to facilitate their studies and retention in school.
Deprived female students who attain aggregate seven to 14 in the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) are equally offered bursaries such as the payment of school fees and other learning tools to help them to further their studies.
A second year student of the Tolon Junior High School (JHS), Ms Mahama Nimatu, who said both parents were peasant farmers, expressed appreciation to Camfed for the food rationing programme, which she said had assisted her and other mates immensely in their continuous stay on campus.
Even though a day school, students of the Tolon JHS are living on campus on their own and, therefore, are not fed by the school authorities. It is for this reason that Ms Nimatu commended Camfed for their humanitarian gesture which is offered them at the beginning of every term.
Apart from its focus on female education and women’s empowerment, other areas of intervention by Camfed include career guidance, counselling and internships. The rest are teacher training and skills development.
The NGO currently operates in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Central regions which are the most deprived in the country.
According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, the literacy rates for those aged 15 and above for the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions are 33, 41 and 40 per cent respectively, compared to a corresponding national literacy rate of 72 per cent.
The programmes are being funded by the Department for International Development (DFID-Ghana), a United Kingdom-based establishment that aims at promoting sustainable development to eliminate world poverty.
The Executive Director of Camfed, Mrs Dolores Dickson, stated that following her outfit’s commitment to female education and women’s empowerment, the organisation this year increased its bursary support for girls from 16,000 to over 32,000.
Camfed has also increased the number of its beneficiary schools and districts to 800 and 30 respectively. According to Mrs Dickson, the organisation had to introduce another initiative dubbed; “MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme,” to respond to the needs of poor girls” to harness their potential to develop their communities and the nation.
It is not surprising that at various Camfed intervention platforms, officials of the Northern Regional Coordinating Council and the Ghana Education Service have used the opportunity to laud the immense contribution of Camfed towards the promotion of girl-child education in schools and deprived communities in the region over the years.