Camfed Ghana holds forum for Girls’ Education Officers

The Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) Ghana, an international non-governmental organization, on Wednesday opened a national forum for Girls’ Education Officers, aimed to share knowledge and experience, in order to expand female educational opportunities.

The two-day event on the theme: “Promoting Retention, Performance and Achievements; the Role of Stakeholders in Education,” is expected to generate new strategies to significantly improve the retention of girls in Junior High Schools (JHS), and the promotion of girls’ education in general.

The forum, which is the third to be organized by Camfed in partnership with the Girls’ Education Unit (GEU) of the Ghana Education Service (GES), would provide a learning platform for staff of the Unit through periodic engagements and sharing of best practices.

Mrs Catherine N. Mikado, Director of Girls Education Unit of the GES, said although girl-child education had improved considerably at the primary level, there was an increasing rate of teenage pregnancies in schools.

She called for renewed strategies to address the problem in order to improve the retention rate of girls in basic schools.

She stressed the need to heighten awareness that “giving boys and girls equal access to basic education come with vast opportunities, including good health, decline in population growth and overall economic prosperity.”

The reverse, she said, was the case in the situation where girl-child education was not given priority in the state policy, and appealed for sustained funding from Camfed and other NGOs to sustain the gains made in girls’ education over the years.

Mrs Aissotou Diajhate, IREX Regional Manager, challenged Girls’ Education Officers who were considered as front-liners, to improve their support for females in their districts and communities, and ensure that follow-ups were made from school and homes for holistic support and achievements.

She also urged teachers to ensure that the school became a safe place for girls, rather than a place of abuse, intimidation and humiliation by instructors who were supposed to be their sources of inspiration and growth.

Mr Stephen Adu, Deputy Director of the GES, challenged stakeholders to ensure girls’ enrolment in school at the right age.

He said studies had shown that most of the girls who got pregnant at the JHS levels were often over-aged for their levels, and therefore faced social pressures as adults.

Mrs Delores Dickson, Executive Director of Camfed Ghana, said although it may seem like Ghana was doing well in terms of increasing female enrolment at the basic level of education, going below the surface were still inequalities not only between male and females, but also the urban and rural areas, as well as the rich and poor, with regards to access.

This, she said, had brought about a growing concern for the need to review past activities, examine the strengths and weaknesses, as well as the limitations and successes of girls’ educational programmes.

Mrs Dickens said Camfed had over the years, provided holistic support to vulnerable and marginalized girls through school.

She touched on the recent research conducted in partnership with the Development for International Development (DFID), on girls’ clubs and retention in JHS in four districts of the Eastern Region.

Mrs Dickens said the research which was to assess the effectiveness of school-based girls’ clubs in achieving positive outcomes, regarding the retention of girls at the JHS levels, showed positive impact, demonstrating increases in the self-esteem, confidence and sense of collective solidarity among the girls, which helped them to serve as support systems for each other.

She said those who were able to remain in school had done so through the translation of these assets into motivators for their remaining school days.

“The clubs also serve as instruments for growing skills and knowledge on key social and academic issues, such as sexual and reproductive health, interpersonal communication and study skills,” she added.