No development tool more effective than education of girls

No development tool more effective than education of girls, and empowerment of women.

Every child in Ghana has a right to be educated. Parents and the Government of Ghana have the primary responsibility to ensure that every child has access to good quality education regardless of their economic circumstance.

Government must focus on ensuring that the poor and vulnerable get access to good schools, whether public or private because the nation development depends on education.

If education is indeed a tool of development to any nation, why is that girl child education keep decreasing in Ghana. Right from junior high school , how many girls are able to go to senior high school and what percentage of girls get the chance to university.

data available indicated that out of a total of 3,254,007 children within 12-17 years old, 176,103 representing 5.4% were married.

Yes, married as children!

The situation is more disturbing when one takes a careful look at the data at the regional level.

For instance, in the three regions of Northern, Upper East and Upper west alone, out of a total of 567,554 children between the ages of 12 to 17 years, 43,311 of them were married.

Among these married children of the three regions of the north, 23,050 were girls.

Indeed, based on these statistics, it has been estimated by the UNFPA that if present trends in child marriage continue unchanged, by the year 2030 more than 407,000 of girls born between 2005 and 2010 will be married before the age of 18.

What is the government and parents doing about the girl child education.

It is impossible for any nation to address poverty, gender equality, maternal and child mortality with this kind of statistics.

The above figures if not checked, it will threatens the achievement of the main goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primarily education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, and reducing child mortality.

A later marriage is a precondition for the attainment of girls’ personal goals of completing school, acquiring key skills and understanding roles in family and in society, which are closely linked to the SDGs.

Ghana need to do more on Girl child education.

Emmanuel Ashitey

0540981328