Critical consultations needed to improve girl-child education - Star-Ghana boss
The Executive Director of Star-Ghana Foundation, Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, has stressed the need to create a safe space for critical consultations in order to help generate solutions to improve girls’ education in the country.
He was of the view that although access and enrolment had improved, there was the need to work on retention and performance, particularly from primary to junior high and senior high schools.
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He observed that performance of girls in junior and senior high schools had not been the best as compared to their male counterparts.
Mr Amidu made the remarks at a forum organised by Star-Ghana Foundation under its project, Gender Rights and Empowerment Programme (G-REP), to promote girls education in Ghana in Tamale in the Northern Region.
The forum was organised among other things to provide platform for building a consensus among stakeholders as well as to renew commitment towards collaboration on strategies to secure girls continuous access to quality education in the country.
The forum brought together development partners, civil society organisations and government agencies, educationists and opinion leaders to reexamine existing strategies that are meant to help improve girls’ education in the country.
G-REP
The G-REP is a Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) funded project aimed at contributing to increased access to rights and quality social services for women and girls.
The programme which covers 47 districts in six regions, including three in northern Ghana, Central, Eastern and Volta regions is intended at increasing the effectiveness of civil society advocacy for women and girls’ political and social rights, particularly rights to inclusive and quality social services and participation in public governance at the national and sub-national levels.
New Efforts
For Mr Amidu, “We need to find ways of ensuring that girls attend school, stay, and perform well. There is simply no way we can develop if we are not able to address this.”
He therefore called for a collaborative approach from all stakeholders towards the promotion of girls’ education in the country.
He observed with concern that the performance between boys and girls had not been the best despite efforts by the government, civil society organisations (CSOs), development partners, traditional authorities, parents, and others to improve the situation.
Mr Amidu was of the view that there were many factors affecting the performance of girls in school, citing poverty, traditional and religious beliefs as some of the notable issues affecting girls’ performance in school.
For him, the importance of girls’ education could not be overlooked if the country was to make any progress in its development.
Commendation
For his part, the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu, commended Star-Ghana Foundation, for its commitment and efforts in promoting girl child education in the country, particularly in the northern Ghana.
He said Star-Ghana Foundation over the years had initiated many projects aimed at improving girls’ education in the country.
That, he noted, northern Ghana had been a major beneficiary of the projects of Star Ghana Foundation, urging the NGO to continue to prioritise the education of the less developed regions and communities in the country.
“If we do not provide the desired attention to girl child education, we cannot achieve any meaningful development,” Alhaji Shaibu said, adding that the importance of girls’ education could not be overemphasized and everyone must come onboard to support it.
