Tinageria (N/R), Oct 21, GNA – Community members and parents in the Nanumba South District have been urged to prioritise education of their children, especially the girl-child to help empower them for the future.
Madam Rose Gbande, Girl-Child Education Officer for Kpandai District, who made the call, said this would help to stop and or reduce early marriages in the area to allow girls in the area to grow and be responsible before giving birth.
Madam Gbande made the call at a forum at Tinageria, a community in the Nanumba South District of the Northern Region, to mark this year’s International Day of the Girl-Child.
It was organised by the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS), an NGO, as part of its implementation of the Strategic Approaches to Girls’ Education (STAGE) project.
The International Day of the Girl-Child is marked globally on October 11, to amongst others support more opportunity for girls and increase awareness of gender inequality faced by girls worldwide based on their gender.
The STAGE project is a four-year initiative funded by Foreign Commonwealth Development Office under the “Leave No Girl Behind (LNGB)” programme of its Girls’ Education Challenge window II.
The project seeks to support educationally marginalised girls to improve their lives through education by achieving and acquiring literacy and numeracy skills, relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for life and work.
The lead implementing NGO is World Education Incorporated (WEI), based in Accra, and working with seven local NGOs including; RAINS and Afrikids, with RAINS implementing the project in 23 communities in the Nanumba South and Kpandai Districts.
It has an annual target of 575 marginalised girls and 2,300 girls over the five-year period.
Mr JJ Issifu, Kpandai District Director of Social Welfare, encouraged especially the STAGE project beneficiaries to embrace the vocational skills training and indicated it would help them to become self-reliant and self-sufficient in the near future.
Madam Ragadahu Abdul Wahab, Coordinator of the STAGE project at RAINS reiterated the need for community members to prioritise the safety of children particularly the girl-child.
She reminded the community members of the critical role they played as parents and care givers towards ensuring that their children lived in an environment free from all forms of exploitation including; harassment and abuse of all kinds, and urged them to live up to expectation.
Nyanbom Philip Nasapuan, an officer from the Ghana Education Service in the district, who is a graduate of the Complementary Basic Education programme, shared his experience in life with the girls and urged them to embrace the accelerated learning component of the STAGE project.
Chief Konja Tinageria, Chief of Tinageria, expressed gratitude to RAINS for marking the day in his community, saying such events coupled with the STAGE project would help accelerate development in the area.
The Chief, who has shown a high level of interest in the success of the STAGE project and has been monitoring the literacy, numeracy and vocational skills sessions of the learners in his community, urged other chiefs to show interest in the project to better the lives of girls in their communities.
GNA