Girls Camp inspires basic schoolchildren for education

The ANEG Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, together with the Queen-mother of Osudoku Traditional Area, Manye Amponsah Dokua lll, has organised a 10-day camp at the Osudoku Senior High Technical School for 100 girls from basic schools in the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region.

The camp, also attended by participants from Akuse and its environs in the Eastern Region, was on the theme: “Balanced and poised for bigger challenges in future; girls must take over”.

Organised under the NGO’s ‘Go Girls Programme’, the camp brought mentors from various fields to talk, inspire and motivate the participants to pursue higher education.

Objective

The Chief Executive Officer of ANEG Foundation, Mrs Alberta Seyram Adjoa Ananga-Ayitey, said the girl-child in deprived communities could not be left behind in the development process, pointing out that girls needed to be empowered because they were vulnerable but held the key to national development.

She indicated that the plight of young girls in deprived communities threw so much challenge to them and there was the need for stakeholders and private entities to help alleviate their challenges through various support.

The foundation, she said, was set up to help empower and encourage more girls and youths to pursue higher education.

The benefit

Mrs Ananga-Ayitey said so far, about 49 girls had benefited from the programme with 26 of them progressing to senior high schools, while the rest were also preparing to move on.

She urged philanthropists and corporate bodies, interested in education, to come to their aid so that they could expand their scope and reach to other areas.

Those who participated in the camp meeting were presented with exercise books to facilitate their learning, as well as reduce the financial burden on their parents.

Manye Dokua lll said there was the need to also educate parents on the need for them to pay attention to their children.

She said the standards of parenting had fallen in the community, hence the need for parents to be vigilant and take good care of their children.

Through her community dialogue programmes with parents, she said she was hopeful that parents

would come on board to ensure that their children achieved the best in education to make their families and communities proud.