Girls Advocacy Network has presented a communique to the Gushegu Municipal Education Directorate. The communique themed; “Championing Partnership for Girls’ Education Development, the Role of Young Ghanaians”, called on the Municipal Education Directorate to increase their monitoring and Supervision of both teaching and non-teaching GES staff and to continue with the new initiatives to promote learning outcomes among Junior High School girls in Gushegu.
It also called on the Member of Parliament and the MCE to continue their good works of providing educational and recreational infrastructure to give girls more access to quality health care and education in Gushegu. The communique which was presented to the Director by the Northern Regional Coordinator for Girls Advocacy Network, Sualisu Faizatu in Gushegu further encouraged parents, teachers and opinion leaders to be proactive in safeguarding children against peer pressures by giving them accurate information on how girls can stay protected against teenage pregnancy or how to climb their education ladder with greater success.
It also called on the media to extend their interests and role beyond breaking stories on teenage pregnancy cases and low education performance but also help with follow ups and more importantly report stories on survivor successes.
This would encourage other victims of teenage pregnancies not to give up but work harder to pursue their dreams. Girls’ Advocacy Network has observed that the situation of teenage pregnancies among JHS students in Gushegu may be worse than imagined because most teenage pregnancy cases are not reported at schools or at hospitals where national data are usually captured.
It revealed that data from the District League Table by UNICEF and CDD which ranks all districts based on six key sectors including health and education always shows weaker performance in education for Gushegu in the last 3 years. The association also observed that girls and young women form the majority in terms of cases of school drop-out in the district due to the socially ascribed roles assigned to the female.
Girls Advocacy Network is a membership-based organization led by young women who work towards mobilizing the hearts and minds of relevant stakeholders to create opportunities for girls to reach their highest potentials. The organization has over 1,200 members across 6 regions of Ghana with the national advocacy office in Accra. Receiving the Communique, the Director of Education Hamid Tijani Hassan pledged the directorates support to the association to ensure quality education is provided to students in the municipality.
By: Lilian D. Walter/zaanews.com/Ghana