‘Gender-based violence in schools affects education’
The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, called for a code of conduct on sexual and gender-based violence in the educational sector.
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She said the issues of school-related gender-based violence were on the rise, affecting the education of millions of young girls and women as well as boys.
She made the call when she launched the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in Accra on Tuesday.
The 16-day campaign starts from November 25, the day designated by the United Nations General Assembly, on December 17,1999, as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to December 10, Human Rights Day.
This is to raise public awareness and mobilise people everywhere to bring about change, and also to raise awareness of the fact that women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence.
According to the minister, although boys were also targeted, girls were mostly at risk of sexual and gender-based violence in and around the schools which resulted in poor performance, dropout, truancy and low self-esteem.
Gender-parity in education
Even though Ghana has made progress towards the attainment of gender-parity in education at the basic level, she said sexual and gender based violence was affecting girl-child education.
Education is critical in empowering and transforming the lives of young people, especially girls, yet widespread gender-based violence in and around schools seriously undermines the achievement of quality, inclusive and equitable education for all children.
A recent estimate by Plan International based on the number of children affected by verbal bullying, a common form of violence in schools, show 246 million boys and girls suffering school-related gender-based violence.
A research undertaken by the Human Rights Advocacy Centre indicates that 67 per cent of students in Ghana said sexual comments were passed in their schools and 49 per cent of students reported suggestive touching.
Teenage pregnancy
Touching on teenage pregnancy which was hindrance to girls education, Nana Oye Lithur said it was one of the major challenges which were sources of worry for policy makers, social workers and other humanitarian service providers.
According to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (2014), 14 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 19 had begun childbearing, 11 per cent had had a live birth and three per cent were pregnant at the time of the interview.
The situation, she said, was critical because teenage mothers were more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes and were more constrained in their ability to pursue educational opportunities than young women who delayed childbearing.
On the issue of child marriage, Nana Oye Lithur said about 14 million adolescent and teen girls were married worldwide.
“The menace of child marriage is a serious human rights concern in Ghana. On average, one out of four girls will be married before their 18th birthday,” she stated.
Response centres
In response to gender-based violence, she mentioned that her outfit, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), had set up gender-based violence response centres at Agbogbloshie and Mallam-Atta markets in Accra.
The centres, to be replicated in other markets in the country, are expected to provide comprehensive package of integrated medical, legal and psychosocial support to victims and survivors of gender based violence.
The Country representative of the UNFPA, Dr Babatunde Ahonsi, while commending Ghana, indicated that more needed to be done to ensure that sexual and gender-based violence was reduced drastically.
Statistics
Giving statistics on gender- based violence, the Coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mrs Habiba Twumasi-Sarpong, said in 2010, out of 12, 706 reported cases 11,294 were against women.
In 2011, out of the 17,965 cases reported, 15,271 were against women, in 2012 out of the 17,655 cases, 15,271 were against women, 2013, out of the 18,795 cases, 16,274 were against women and in 2014, out of 17,778 cases, 15,207 were against women.
