Volta Region promotes girl-child education in new campaign
Ms Lena Alai, Volta Regional Director of the Department of Women, has suggested the need for girls who have trained in technical vocations to be aided to set up their businesses.
She said it would therefore be worthwhile for the Gender Responsive Skills and Community Development (GRSCD) Project, to coordinate the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre and the Rural Enterprise Programme to facilitate the process.
Ms Alai made the suggestion at the launch of the Regional “Education Communication Campaign for the Promotion of Girls’ Enrolment into Non-Traditional Professional Trades” in Ho.
She said helping girls to practice their vocations would be a major boost to the objective of the GRSCD Project, because stable homes hinge on financially stable women.
The campaign on the theme: “Women Empowerment, A Key to sustainable socio-economic development,” was under the auspices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the GRSCD Project.
The GRSCD seeks to help especially girls with talents in technical vocations from poor homes to train and practice their trades.
Ms Alai said 56 girls from Ho, Hohoe and Kpando municipalities as well as Krachi-West, Central-Tongu, Agortime-Ziope districts are pursuing technical vocations in various institutions under scholarship.
The Government and the African Development Bank launched the four- year GRSCD Project worth $14.63 million in November 2009 to promote gender mainstreaming across national development processes focusing particularly on women and children.
Ms Alai urged parents, chiefs and queens and opinion leaders to encourage and support girls with the natural inclination towards technical vocations to pursue them.
Madam Theodora Nutakor, Regional Co-ordinator of the Women in Technical Education (WITED) Division of the Ghana Education Service said female enrolment in technical vocational courses from 1998 and 2010 rose from two per cent to three per cent.
She said lack of funds had affected the work of WITED after just one year of funding by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the British Department for International Development.
“This has affected the programme so much so that it has become dormant. It is our hope that today’s launch gives a good footing to the WITED programme,” Madam Nutakor said.
Source: GNA