Programme launched to remove barriers to girls’ education
The Canadian Government is working in partnership with the Government of Ghana and Right To Play International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), to roll out a series of programmes aimed at removing all barriers that impede girls’ education in northern Ghana.
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The initiative is also to improve educational outcomes at the basic level of education for both boys and girls and help to attain gender parity in basic schools.
Under the initiative, Right To Play will partner with relevant government agencies to provide changing rooms, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in basic schools to help girls go to school and feel comfortable during menstruation
Currently, the Canadian Government (through Right To Play International) is supporting a number of initiatives in the Northern Region to address barriers to education, especially for girls, and promote play-based learning to improve the quality of education that children receive.
Visit
This came to light during a visit by the Canadian Minister of International Development and Francophonie, Mrs Marie-Claude Bibeau, to the Pong-Tamale Municipal Assembly (M/A) Primary School in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality in the Northern Region last Friday.
Mrs Bibeau was at Pong-Tamale to visit some Right To Play projects being funded by the Canadian Government. She was accompanied by the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mrs Heather Cameron, Right To Play ambassadors, Ms Kaylyn Kyle, who is a bronze medalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games for the Canadian soccer team, and Ms Joannie Rochette, 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games bronze medalist figure skater for Team Canada.
She also visited some key Canada-funded development projects in the region to enable her to gain a deeper understanding of development challenges there, especially those faced by women and girls.
It formed part of Mrs Bibeau’s two-day visit to Ghana from July 7 to 9, 2017 as part of Canada’s re-engagement with Africa and its commitment to work together to address issues facing the continent.
Innovative teaching
The occasion was used to showcase the unique contribution of play-based learning and other innovative teaching approaches which Right To Play has introduced in the school to promote teaching and learning outcomes.
Mrs Bibeau urged the schoolchildren to work hard since education was the key to success and applauded Right To Play International for a wonderful initiative.
She gave an assurance that the Canadian Government would partner with the Government of Ghana and Right to Play to ensure quality education for all children, especially girls.
The Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mrs Cameron, for her part said quality education was important because it helped to reduce poverty and steer the future of children so that they could become role models and a benefit to their parents, society and the nation as a whole.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Right To Play international, Mr Kevin Frey, stated that the organisation “creates clubs to ensure that children have a voice to speak to their parents, elders and members in their community about issues bothering them.”
For her part, the Country Director for Right To Play, Ghana, Madam Ethel Sackitey, said Right to Play in Ghana (through the support of the Canadian Government) would continue to initiate programmes to remove all barriers to quality education, especially for girls.
The Savelugu-Nanton Municipal Director of Education, Mr Phillip Issahaku Ziblim, said the issues of child marriage and head portering continued to be a challenge to girls education in the municipality.
Mr Ziblim commended Right To Play for the initiative to promote the enrolment of girls in schools and ensure quality education in the municipality and appealed to parents to take proper care of their children and support them in school.