GES, Plan Ghana hold educational camp for girls
The Girls Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service, in collaboration with Plan Ghana, on Tuesday opened a Girls Camp to encourage participants to appreciate the value of education.
The 10-day residential meeting, which is under Plan Ghana’s Girls Power Project, is on the theme; “Nurturing the Girl Child to Realise Her Full Potential through Education”.
It brought together 150 girls from deprived communities in the Akwapim North and East Akim districts.
Mrs Matilda Bannerman-Mensah, Director of the Girls Education Unit, said the Camp was part of the activities of Plan Ghana towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 3A on eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education.
She said Ghana was close to achieving the MDG target with a ratio of 97 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in school as at 2012, compared to 93 girls for every 100 boys enrolled between 2004 and 2005.
She said education was a powerful tool for development, especially for girls, as it helped in their preparation towards self sufficiency, ensured a reduction in poverty, illiteracy rates, inequality, as well as eradicated traditional beliefs, practices and attitudes that were detrimental and discriminatory to girls and women.
Mrs Bannerman-Mensah said there were, however, challenges that prevented the total bridging of the gender gap and disparity regarding male and female retention in school, as statistics indicated that girls were more likely than boys to drop out of education before completing the basic cycle.
As a result, there are currently only 94 girls for every 100 boys in junior high school and 87 girls for every 100 boys in senior high school.
Mrs Bannerman-Mensah said the gender gap was more pronounced in deprived areas of the country and it was important that girls were given not just equal access to education but also encouraged to remain in school.
She said the encouragement would enable them to complete their education and achieve their full potential.
In addition, they would be able to make significant contributions to their communities and Ghana’s economy.
Mrs Bannerman-Mensah said the Girl’s Camp activities had been designed to expose girls from marginalised communities to growth and development, to enhance their knowledge base in science and technology and to guide them in their career development.
She said it was a key part of achieving the empowerment of girls through building self-esteem, helping to bring down perceived barriers about what girls could achieve and highlighting the importance of girl’s education to communities.
It was also to broaden the girl’s horizon, give them the necessary skills and prepare them for leadership, she said.
Mr Asum Kwarteng Ahensah, Programme Support Manager of Plan Ghana, said the idea of the Camp was to empower girls to become assertive and be confident in life.
It is also to encourage them to at least complete their basic education and better still aspire to the highest levels of education.
He urged the participants to make the best use of the investment and opportunity to acquire further knowledge in Information and Communication Technology, life skills, and adolescent and reproductive health issues.
Source: GNA