THE Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has expressed concern about the unfriendly learning environment in schools that do not encourage girls to acquire the knowledge that would enable them to contribute their quota to the development of the country.
He noted that such negative practices as sexual harassment, discriminatory teaching methods, negative attitudes and some unprofessional acts by teachers and school authorities had over the years worsened the plight of girls in their quest to educate themselves.
Mr Tettey-Enyo stated this at the first Speech and Prize-giving Day of the Tamale Girls Senior High School. The occasion was on the theme “Educating the girl child: Key to national development”.
The minister entreated school heads to help ensure a conducive learning environment in schools to promote girl-child education, which was necessary in ensuring that they contributed meaningfully to national development.
He urged parents to send their girls to school at the right age and support them throughout their educational career as long as their brains would take them.
“The girl-child cannot wait any longer; as long as we deny them their education, we are only prolonging the vicious cycle of poverty in their respective homes and communities,” Mr Tettey-Enyo noted.
He expressed regret that in spite of their role in nation building, girls continued to be discriminated against at home, at workplaces and among the larger society, relegating them to the background in decision making.
“Women constitute about 51 per cent of the country’s population, and so they deserve to be treated fairly and not to be abandoned to their faith,” the minister stressed.
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Nayina, advised parents not to leave the moral and social training of their wards, particularly the girls, in the hands of teachers alone.
“Stakeholders should have a clear focus, vision and target and you should be able to get benchmarks to determine the growth of the school which is reflected in the kind of students that are churned out,” Mr Nayina observed.
The Headmistress of the school, Ms Mercy Amanquandoh, paid glowing tribute to Alhaji Rahimu Gbadamoshi and the late Alhaji B.A. Fuseini for their immense contribution towards the establishment of the school.
According to her, the school was started in 1998 through the collaboration of the Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council, the Ghana Education Service and Rains/Camfed, a non-governmental organisation.
Ms Amanquando disclosed that the school started with 64 girls, but currently had a student population of 850, with 54 teaching and non-teaching staff.
The headmistress expressed joy that the academic performance of the school in the WASSSCE had improved from nine per cent in 2002 to 99 per cent in 2008.
A Lecturer at the University for Development Studies, Dr Hajia Ramatu Alhassan, who chaired the function, observed that the “effectiveness of girls school in educating the girl-child depends on a healthy relationship between students, parents, school authorities and policy makers”.
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