Northern Region schools hold festival on outmoded cultural practices
The 2nd edition of the Senior High Schools Drama Festival in the Northern Region has been held in Tamale with the participating schools using drama and dance to demonstrate the need to discourage outmoded cultural practices that inhibit development and the rights of the child.
Advertisement
The event, which brought together about 10 senior high schools in the region, was also to promote creativity among the youth, provide them with skills through training in script writing, directing and set designing.
The festival, which was held as a prelude to the forthcoming National Drama Festival for senior high schools in the country, scheduled to take place in Accra in the later part of the year, featured the use of drama and dance to showcase the negative effects of forced marriage involving children and its consequences.
Organisers
The programme was organised by the National Commission on Culture, Centre for National Culture (CNC) and the Ghana Education Service (GES), and was on the theme: “The Girl Child- A Gem in the Family, Not a Bride Prize”.
The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, in a speech read on his behalf, said the festival complemented the government’s effort to improve the quality of education at the basic level to enhance gender equality.
In Ghana, eight per cent of girls under 15 years in rural areas are married before age 15, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2011, with the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions reporting the highest rates of 36.6, 36.1 and 27.6 per cent respectively.
This, according to the minister, indicated that the practice of early and forced marriages was not alien, but something that was common in the country and, therefore, called on chiefs, stakeholders, traditional and opinion leaders to take steps to stop early and forced marriages in the country.
Confidence
The acting Northern Regional Director of the CNC, Madam Gladys Nuabuob Tang, said the drama would enhance the participants’ ability to express themselves confidently in public, and thanked sponsors of the programme for their efforts.
Other Trending Stories
The Northern Regional Director of Education, Alhaji Mohammed Haroon, expressed worry about what he described as the negative effects of the use of modern technology such as the internet and mobile phones that affected efforts of students to concentrate on their books.
“I challenge you all as future leaders to work hard, improve upon your academic performance, participation in co-curricular activities, drama clubs, culture and sports, community service and leadership roles,” he stated, and urged students to maintain a high sense of discipline and commit themselves to their studies.
Participating schools
Northern School of Business (NOBISCO) emerged winners of the drama competition with 110 points.
Tamale Girls Senior High School Pagnaa came second with 109 points and Tatale Senior High School was third with 96 points.
Other schools that took part in the competition included the Ghana Senior High School (GHANASCO), Tamale Senior High School (TAMASCO), Walewale SHS, Tolon SHS, Yendi SHS and Kumbungu SHS.
The competing schools took away souvenirs from Savana Signatures, one of the supporters of the programme.