Education Director Appeals for help for Women

Bolgatanga, Feb. 23, GNA- Mrs. Elizabeth Ayire Mwinkaar, Upper East Regional Director of Education, on Thursday appealed to the Regional Minister to encourage the Municipal and District Assemblies to support women undertake income generating activities.

She noted that most women were hard working and trustworthy and would put to good use credit facilities given them to either start or expand their small-scale businesses.

Mrs. 0Mwinkaar made the appeal at a seminar in Bolgatanga on the contributions of women in the 50 years of Ghana's Independence, organized by the Department of Women for women in the Region. She asked women to focus more attention on raising their children properly and doing their best in the field of their chosen career. " Let us strive to be a source of inspiration to our children and ask our men to give us respect and a chance to do our best in the up-keep of our families ", she said.

She asked women not to support conflicts in their communities but help to build peace.

Madam Margaret Mary Issaka, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development Initiatives (CENSUDI), an NGO working with women in the Region, noted that many women in the area had contributed significantly in the fields of education, health, politics and the private sector. She said as the girl child now had better education than before, women's contribution to community and national development would be greater.

Mr. Boniface Gambila, Upper East Regional Minister, said women contributed significantly towards national development as evident in the conspicuous roles they played in various sectors of the economy. He said in the area of rural agriculture, women were the backbone in food production as the food chain from the farm to dinning table starts and end mostly with women.

"I accept that women need societal support and encouragement to enable them to continue to give off their best for societal growth and progress," he said.

He noted that what was needed most for women was a change, saying "Change for the better, to leave behind all the negative traditional practices, and to try to change difficult situations for the better." In the middle of the seminar, which was attended by a large number of women, a prolonged clapping erupted when someone relayed a radio announcement that the Domestic Violence Bill had been passed into law.