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02.10.2015 Press Release

World Teachers' Day 2015:Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies!

By RISE Ghana
World Teachers' Day 2015:Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies!
02.10.2015 LISTEN

RISE-Ghana salutes all Teachers for the hard work, patience and affection they give to the children in our schools. We appreciate the time they spend to build up a strong and sustainable society in our country.

As an organization interested in advancing human rights and promoting the best interest of children, we wish to use the occasion of World Teachers Day to demand increased commitment and resource allocation by government, the international community, the private sector and the donor community to build the capacity of teachers to effectively deliver on their mandate and contribute to prevent the alarming incidence of Child, Early and Forced Marriages (CEFM) in the Upper East Region in particular and Ghana in general.

It is unacceptable that Ghana has one of the highest childhood marriages prevalence in the world, with 25% of girls marrying before age 18. The Upper East Region sadly has the highest CEFFM prevalence level (50%).

In recent times, we have been saddened by news of some teachers abusing young girls in rural areas and calling it “bush allowance”, these few deviants must be made to face the full rigors of the law to serve as a deterrent.

There is a clear link between education, poverty and child marriage with, prevalence is highest among girls who live in rural areas, have a low educational level and come from low income households. Girls in rural areas are three times more likely to be married before they are 18 years old than girls who live in urban areas.

We therefore wish to use this occasion to demand more responsiveness and accountability from all stakeholders to empower teachers and build sustainable societies by giving girls and teachers the needed education to end CEFM.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

AWAL Ahmed

Project Manager

Demanding Excellence Project.

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