By Comfort Sena Fetrie-Akagbor
Tamale, March. 02, GNA – Mr Abdul Kasiru Shani, Head of Programmes and Policy at Songtaba, an NGO, has called on development partners to create and maintain standard child safeguarding protection policies and systems in schools.
He explained that this would ensure good record keeping and confidentiality of issues among students and the authorities.
He made the call during Songtaba’s dissemination and discussion meeting in Tamale as part of activities under the Strengthening Voices against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) project on safeguarding child protection audit among 20 Schools in three districts in the Northern Region with a targeted population of 10,000 girls over the three years.
The meeting was to provide a platform to discuss SGBV in schools and communities at large and find collective solutions to tackling the issues to make schools and communities safer for girls to thrive.
The project, sponsored by STAR-Ghana Foundation with funding from Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, is to prevent and reduce both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect aimed at children in school.
Mr Shani noted that a survey conducted by Songtaba indicated that only four schools out of 20 had some form of safeguarding of child protection policy, which only one school had a documented policy with the rest undocumented.
According to him, safeguarding mechanisms management in the schools was very weak and ineffective.
He stated that stakeholders should create awareness for students to educate them on safeguarding policies and the reporting protocols in schools.
He also urged authorities at the Ghana Education Service (GES) to frequently train and also organise orientation on safeguarding of child protection in schools.
Hajia Lamnatu Adam, Executive Director of Songtaba, said safeguarding for girls in schools was particularly important given the prevalence of gender-based violence and discrimination in many societies.
She noted that effective safeguarding measures for girls in schools required the cooperation and collaboration of school staff members, parents, and community members to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all students in the communities.
Mr Frank Kwaku Amoateng, Results and Learning Manager at STAR-Ghana Foundation, appealed to teachers and heads of schools to work with stakeholders to prevent the girl-child from SGBV as well as empower them through education to become responsible leaders.
He also advised the leadership of GES to use their capabilities to ensure children and girls were protected from abuse and neglect in schools and communities.
Mr Sayibu Mahamoud Sule, Northern Regional Examinations Coordinator at GES, urged teachers and heads of schools to study the education policy and enforce it in their schools to promote quality education as well as protection of children.
GNA