Education, the way to reduce a woman's dependency on man - Mrs Korri

Bolgatanga, Aug 17, GNA - Education is the only way to reduce a women's economic dependency on man and also break the poverty cycle in the northern parts of the country.

Mrs Margaret Korri, Project Officer of the Basic Education Scholarship Programme, said this at the opening of Girls Mentor Camp for 2012 for 150 girls drawn from Bongo and the Talensi-Nabdam Districts of the Upper East Region.

The Project Officer said it was only through education that women can be liberated and to effectively make informed decisions about their lives.

She explained that it was against this background that the Basic Education Scholarship Programme with support from the United States Agency International Development (USAID) since 2009 had been providing support for the girl-child through the Ghana Education Service (GES).

She said the mentoring camp was part of the support and said it is expected that the girls who were from the rural communities would be exposed to an environment which was different from theirs to provide them with the opportunities to interact with people from other backgrounds so as to empower them to aspire higher to the educational level.

“The Girls will be interacting with role models and we expect that the interactions will inspire them to aspire to strive towards a better future for themselves, their families, communities and the nation a whole ''

She appealed to other Non-Governmental Organizations, Traditional Rulers and Members of Parliament and District Chief Executives to contribute towards the girl-child education.

The Regional Girls Education Office, Mrs Rose Akanson, said the girls would spend four days at the Camp and would be taken through some topics including Information Communication Technology (ICT), Leadership Skills, Personal Hygiene, Good Manners among others.

The Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Edward Ayagle, said the issue of the Girl Child Education had been a matter of concern to Government and that, this was why the Government and other development partners had put in place numerous measures including the Mathematics, Science and Technology Camps to empower the Girl -Child Education.

He said Government was making strenuous efforts to achieve Gender Parity by 2015.

The Camp under the theme” Empowering Girls through Education: Inspiring futures'' was organised by the Girls Education Unit of GES with sponsorship from USAID.

GNA