ActionAid urges girls to resist early marriage

ActionAid Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, has held a girls’ club fair for some selected schools and urged girls to resist early marriage and focus on their education.

The fair was part of the organisation’s ‘End child marriage campaign project’, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The project is ongoing in selected districts in the Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Brong Ahafo, Central and Greater Accra regions.

An Advocacy Campaign Manager of Actionaid Ghana, Mrs Margaret Brew Ward, said districts which had high incidence of child marriage were selected for the project.

She explained that in those districts, many girls were pulled out of school to get married and that had made the school dropout rate among girls very high.

She said the project will target other girls clubs in the country and engage traditional leaders, religious leaders, and the youth in the communities on the importance of girl child education.”

Awareness

The Project Coordinator of ActionAid Ghana, Ms Abena Anim Adjei, said since the campaign started in October 2015, about 70 children have been rescued from child marriage in the Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Upper West, and Upper East regions

According to her, ActionAid Ghana had created awareness of the negative effects of child marriage in a bid to prevent the practice.

She further noted that some people were misinterpreting religion to promote child marriage, adding that action had been taken against some parents who were found culpable.