Scholarship schemes, girls’ education camps, clubs and
other social interventions at the pre and basic school levels have helped to
increase girls’ enrolment in the Central Region.
The
Regional Girls Education Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mrs.
Nora Afful in an interview, on Wednesday said
apart from the interventions, the Unit also implemented a role model outreach
programme in rural schools to encourage young girls to aspire to higher
heights.
Mrs
Afful said with the various interventions, a total of 57,537 girls were
enrolled at the Kindergarten (KG) level; 143,232 at the primary; while the
Junior High School (JHS) registered 55,725 at the end of last year.
She,
however, expressed worry that 88 female candidates who sat for the 2014 Basic
Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Region were pregnant.
They,
were, however, allowed to write the exams.
Mrs.
Afful underscored the importance of girl child education, saying if a girl was
denied her right to education, it increased her risk of being exploited, abused
and her vulnerability to Sexually Transmitted Infections such as HIV/AIDS.
“Educating
girls, however, is a step towards eliminating poverty, advancing human
development and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS…, promoting girls’ education
would also get the boys to school,” she explained.
Mrs.
Afful identified the non-availability of a vehicle to visit the rural schools
as the major challenge facing the interventions programme and called on parents, teachers, government
and other stakeholders to ‘help uplift the image of the girl-child.
Credit: GNA
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