UNITED NATIONS GIRLS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

Patricia Owusu  is among the 60 brilliant but disadvantaged girls, to benefit from World Vision’s Girl-Child Education Project. At an awards ceremony honouring the girls’ determination to pursue higher education, she thanked World Vision for the assistance that enabled her to have an education.

“When God blesses you, no one can destroy it,” she testified at the ceremony. “Indeed I shunned the company of men to get to the university, and World Vision made it possible for me to realise my dream.” She is now attending university.

The Girl-Child Education Project is part of the Area Development Programme, established in 1998, which organised the ceremony attended by proud parents, local authorities, the Ghana Education Service, heads of educational institutions, and students.

The programme sponsors girls to pursue courses in various junior and senior secondary schools, as well as vocational and tertiary institutions, providing school bags, uniforms, books, stationery, shirts and money.

In 2000, a participatory research appraisal (PRA) revealed a high school drop-out and repetition rate among girls at a primary and junior secondary school in Abease Tonfokor.  The lack of educational materials, parents’ inability to pay school fees and early pregnancies, were some of the main causes for this situation.

As a response, the Area Development Programme has been providing assistance to the girls to enable them to continue their education through the girl-child project. These include girls who return to school after dropping out for various reasons, such as pregnancy, parental negligence or poverty.

The aim of the programme is to highlight the issue of girls’ education and mobilize support for the purpose of moving the girl forward and allowing her to contribute positively to her family and the society at large.

The Area Development Programme facilitated the provision of school infrastructure, enrolment drives, education on adolescent reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and the importance of girls’ education to help rectify the big divide between girls’ and boys’ education.

This ideal has borne fruit: Since its inception, 97 girls have received sponsorship, with 27 of the original group still pursuing courses under the programme.

 “You are lucky World Vision is there to help you,” said Patricia Owusu, encouraging the other girls. “So take advantage of the opportunity to acquire higher education.”