Making Impact on Female Education Felt In Northern Ghana – CAMFED Shows The Way

Education of the girl child is now globally considered as the best way to empower women particularly in Africa where some long cherished traditions or socio-cultural practices, have for decades, relegated women to the background by making them act as only home-keepers.

In the Northern part of Ghana for instance, most women until recent years, were exclusively confined to only the kitchen where society thought was the only place they were useful to their families aside marrying and giving birth to their husbands later in life.

In most situations, they did not and still do not have a say with regard to their right to reproductive health (number of children to give birth to), when to marry, right to own a business, land or property.

As a result, the number of well educated men across the length and breadth of the three regions of the North – Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions – is more than women.

Luckily, positive initiatives from World Food Programme (WFP) and the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) that supported school feeding programmes whereby girls are targeted in poor performing areas such as Upper East and Upper West, have resulted in narrowing the gap between girls and boys gross enrollment figures in these areas.

UNICEF also contributed to these results with the assistance to 15 districts with lowest Gender Parity Index (GPI) to improve enrolment and retention of girls. The female enrolment figures in Upper East and Upper West grew by 31.4% and 26.1% respectively, compared to the national average of 12.8%. The abolition of school fees in all basic schools in 2005 also had a direct effect on girls’ enrolment rates. Consequently, provisional data showed an improvement of the GPI for Primary Gross Enrolment from 0.93 in 2004/2005 to 0.95 in 2005/2006.

But, despite these positive trends, the country was not able to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of achieving gender parity by 2005. Several regions of Ghana experienced significant gaps between the number of boys and girls in school. Disparities were particularly sharp in the Northern Region. In this region only about 65% of girls are enrolled, compared to 77% of boys. In several districts of the Northern Region fewer than half of primary school-age girls are enrolled.

Interestingly, with enormous support from some international non-governmental organizations like Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED-Ghana), there now seems to be more hope towards improving the education of females in Northern Ghana.

CAMFED-Ghana works in 20 districts in the Northern, Upper East and Central Regions of Ghana in the areas of women empowerment through education of female children, micro credit schemes, advocating for the inclusion of women in decision making process at the district level, career and entrepreneurship development, ICT training and among others. T

In its attempt to complement government’s efforts to improve upon the quality of education in the country especially in Northern Ghana, CAMFED-Ghana has multiplied girls’ educational opportunities under its education programme, supporting girls from poor families with bursary packages to go to school.

At the organisation’s 2011 Annual General Meeting held in Tamale under the theme “Our Performance: Impacting on Quality Education”, it emerged that 4500 girls from Junior and Senior High Schools in the Northern Region alone were given free exercise books, pens, notebooks, uniforms, sanitary pads, sandals, school fees, among others this year.

Also, 167 schools benefitted from 179 safety net grants estimated at GH¢27,960.00 set aside for the provision of school uniforms, exercise books, footwears and school bags for boys and girls at basic school level.

Besides, another 1,250 new beneficiaries in 6 districts were selected to receive bursary support and they include Bongo, Garu-Tempane, Kassena-Nankana in Upper East and Mfantseman, Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese and Gomoa West Districts districts in the Central Region.

The NGO also made effort to improve upon the learning environment of schools through enormous investment in school resources, teacher monitoring and establishment of safer schools fund. Under this programme, 25 schools benefitted from 25 grants totaling GH¢12,500.00 for construction of urinary pits, electrification of schools/classrooms, procurement of water storage facilities, and provision of classroom furniture.

Furthermore, CAMFED-Ghana made donations to schools which include 4 Senior and 2 Junior High Schools in the Nanumba North, Nanumba South, Chereponi and Karaga Districts which received 22 brand new computers worth GH¢27,000.00 whereas 4 Senior and 8 Junior High Schools as well as 4 Primary Schools in Karaga, Chereponi, Nanumba North and South Districts received a total of 1,008 textbooks and supplementary readers.

The organization also presented Home Economics practical items such as blenders, microwave ovens, crockery, gas ovens, gas cookers, cutlery, sewing machines, gas cylinders, fridges, deep freezers, among others to 22 Senior High Schools in 10 districts worth GH¢55,000.00.

Additionally, CAMFED-Ghana donated 2000 textbooks covering various elective subjects worth GH¢42,000.00 to 22 Senior High Schools in eight districts. This include science laboratory equipments worth GH¢14,800 donated to 2 Senior High Schools in 2 districts and 20 selected teacher mentors from Upper East trained to provide psychological support to bursary beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the AGM brought together various stakeholder groups formed by CAMFED-Ghana under the various programmes it is rolling out in beneficiary districts. They include District Education Committees (DECs), Teacher Mentors, Camfed Association (Cama) members and Mother Support Groups.

The AGM was intended to reflect on activities carried out in 2011, consider the achievements and chart a way forward in the coming year with a strong commitment to make more impact.

The Executive Director of CAMFED-Ghana, Mrs. Dolores Dickson, said the organization spent a whopping sum of GH¢2.5 million in various programmes benefitting girls, young women and schools.

“During the 2010/2011 academic year, we increased the number of girls on our bursary programme from 4000 to 4500, all of whom were full scholarship covering school fees, uniforms, footwears, bags, notebooks, sanitary pads, soap and dry food ration for those in hostels, she said adding that, without this support these girls would have had difficulty meeting the cost of their education, resulting in some dropping out of school.”

Mrs. Dickson expressed profound appreciation to the Ghana Education Service for the support it provided the organization.