By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi, Oct. 12, GNA-Scores of school children in the Sekondi- Takoradi Metropolis on Tuesday walked through some principal streets within Takoradi to mark International Day of the Girl Child.
The school children carried placards with inscriptions such as; Educate the Girl Child and empower the nation, Girls, our future pride and Let Her Grow; Save the Girl Child.
The Rest are: Her Tears will not Correct the imbalance… Actions will save the Girl Child and Don’t Mind the Boys, Men and Daddies; Press on to the Future.
The Regional Celebration, under the auspices of the Human Rights Development Services, (HURDS) is on the theme: “Speak Out, End Child Marriages and Teenage Pregnancies”.
Ms Eva Ankrah, the Executive Director of the HURDS, said the event was to focus people’s attention on the need to address the challenges girls faced and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.
She said it was time society gave women and girls the opportunity to exercise their rights.
Ms Eva said, “as an organisation, we are committed to promoting the rights of women and children and putting an end to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence since most girls were sexually violated due to ignorance and curiosity”.
Mrs Maribel Okine, the Western Regional Director of Gender was worried that the percentage of girls cohabiting continued to rise and therefore called for collective efforts to minimise the occurrence.
She said unequal power relations rooted in a culture which had perpetuated the notion that girls and women were instruments of sexual goals must be discarded.
“As a society, we need to move away from this weird notion and embrace the concept of Gender Equality, where all human beings were free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without limitations”.
According to her, the Ghana Health Service in November last year, recorded 8,556 antenatal care in the Region for girls aged between 10 and 19, adding that “this is a time for us to stand accountable with and for Girls and to invest in a future that believed in their legacy, leadership and potential.
The global theme is, “Our time is now- our rights, our future”.
GNA