The Community Aid for Rural Development (CARD) Ghana, has organised a refresher training for stakeholders of girl child education in the Wa Municipality on the School Re-entry Policy to help enhance their advocacy on girl-child education.
They were also trained in the Community Score Card and Time Diary data collection tools to enable them collect data for evidence-based advocacy.
The participants included School-based Girl Child Coordinators, She Leads Girls Club Patrons, She Leads Community Champions of Change, She Leads Social Movement Members and heads of some schools in the municipality.
Speaking at the training, Ms Ernestina Biney, the Ag. Executive Director of CARD-Ghana said the training formed part of the implementation of the She Leads Project by CARD-Ghana in the Wa Municipality in partnership with Plan International Ghana.
“The training on the re-entry policy is part of our efforts to contribute to the effective implementation of the policy to ensure that no girl is denied access to education due to pregnancy or childbirth,” she explained.
She explained that the She Leads project aimed to empower girls and young women and ensure they were well-educated to contribute meaningfully to society’s development.
Ms Biney stated that some girls who got pregnant and dropped out of school were willing to return but needed support to do so.
She, therefore, said the knowledge of the re-entry policy would enable the advocates sensitise the communities for such girls to return to school.
Madam Janet Kpan, the Upper West Regional Girl Child Coordinator, who presented on the re-entry policy, expressed worry about the tendencies of many girls getting pregnant at tender ages and truncating their education.
She said that did not auger well for the girls’ development and the development of their communities and the country.
Madam Kpan indicated that the Ghana Education Service (GES) recognised the education of every child in Ghana as paramount hence the need for collaborative efforts to ensure every child in Ghana was educated.
She stressed the need for advocates and community change agents to advice parents not to give out their girl children who dropped out of school because of pregnancy to marriage but encourage them to return.
Pognaa Amamata Mumuni, the Wa Municipal Girl Child Coordinator, identified some parents’ limited knowledge of the policy as a major setback to its implementation.
She appealed to traditional leaders, Civil Society Organisations, advocates, and other stakeholders to increase their sensitisation on the policy at the community level to increase understanding and acceptance.
She also encouraged pregnant girls and teenage mothers not to shy away from attending schools since education was pivotal in their holistic education.
Madam Cynthia Berewono, a She Leads Club Patron at Wa Senior High Technical School, expressed hope about the positive impact the training would have on her in supporting pregnant girls and teenage mothers to acquire education.
