Education observers in the Northern region of Ghana have raised concern over the rising number of girls who are not in school.
According to them, efforts to improve girls’ education in Ghana are still being thwarted by poverty, early marriage, and inadequate school facilities.
Nearly a quarter of a million, or 244,731 females aged 6 to 14 not in school.
The Ghana statistics service’s most recent population and housing census revealed that some 73,516 girls in the Northern region, 22,857 in the Savannah and 27,930 in the Northeast regions formed part of the largest percentage of girls who are not in school in Ghana.
The minister for the Northern regional minister, Alhaji Alhassan Shaani Shaibu, told attendees at a stakeholder engagement on enhancing girls’ education in the country that there have been many difficulties with girls’ education.
He identified among others, poverty, early marriage, religious beliefs and inadequate school infrastructure as major setbacks to educational drives in the affected areas.
The Executive Director for the Star Ghana foundation, Ibrahim Tanko-Amidu, wants stakeholders to rethink the approaches taken in solving the problems with girls’ education.
He maintained that there is the urgent need for all stakeholders to come together in addressing the bottlenecks holistically to help improve the situation.
By Peter Quao Adattor
