Parents Asked Not To Discriminate Against The Girl-Child

The Northern Regional Director of the Department of Women of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, Zakari-Saa I. Patrick Seidu, has called on parents and guardians not to discriminate against their female children for fear of their non-performance in school, but rather should encourage and support them to enroll, stay in school and attain the highest level of education and training.

According to him, educating the girl child was the best way to empower women particularly in Ghana where some long cherished traditions or socio-cultural practices had for decades, relegated them to the background by making women only act as home-keepers, dressmakers and child bearers. 

Mr. Zakari-Saa made these remarks when he interacted with forty-five female basic school students who attended a 3-day conference of girls’ clubs in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital.

Organized by the Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) in collaboration with the Net Organisation for Youth Empowerment and Development (NOYED-Ghana) and partners with sponsorship from United Kingdom based Comic Relief, the three-day girls’ conference brought together participants from three districts in the three regions of the North including Jirapa, Talensi-Nabdam and West Mamprusi in the Upper West, Upper East and Northern respectively, where VSO was implementing a five-year project dubbed “Tackling Education Needs Inclusively (TENI)”. 

Under the theme: “Promoting girls’ retention in school through sharing of best practices”, the conference of girls’ clubs was organized as a demonstration of VSO’s commitment to share the little gains it was making at the community level with regards to the implementation of TENI. 

It also aimed at building the confidence and the capacity of the girl-child to be able to speak in public and ultimately to groom them to be responsible future leaders.

Until recent times, most women in Northern Ghana 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 for their husbands later in life.

In most situations, they did not and still do not have a say with regards to their right to reproductive health, 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 – is far more than women. But, how dangerous it is for Ghana to still have a situation where fewer females received education as compared to their male counterparts.

In a presentation by Mr. Zakari-Saa highlighting portions of a 2010 educational sector report, it indicated that the Gender Parity Ratio (GPR) in primary schools nationwide fluctuated between 80% and 103% from 2002/2003 to 2007/2008, except in the Northern Region where it was less than 80%.

Also, the GPR at the national level increased from 91% in 2002/2003 to 96% in 2007/2008, while that for Northern Region improved significantly from about 76% in 2002/2003 to 89% in 2006/2007, a clear indication of rapid increase in female enrolment into primary schools in the region, he observed. 

However, Mr. Zakari-Saa noted that at the Junior High School level, the GPR at the national level and in the regions fluctuated between 55% and 106%. 

In Northern Region where the GPR was lowest during the period, he said it increased from 55% in 2002/2003 to 80% in 2006/2007, stressing it should be noted that the significant difference between the GPR at primary and JHS levels in the region was indicative of low rate progression of girls from primary schools to JHS. “Northern Region went further down to 48% at the Senior High School level. It is therefore conclusive that there are militating factors that deny girls access to higher education which must be addressed”, the gender advocate pointed out.

Thus, the Northern Regional Director of the Department of Women called for equal opportunities and rights for girls and boys as well as men and women in order to ensure positive progress in the society. 

Quoting from former United Nations Secretary-General Busumuru Kofi Annan, he said “There is no tool for development more effective than the education of girls.”