The Northern part of Ghana has been the poorest part in the country for decades. It has the highest illiteracy rate and school dropout rates, across the country, and women who make up majority of the populace in the region have been disproportionately being impacted by not just poverty and illiteracy but sometimes outmoded socio-cultural practices. According to UNICEF, a child in Northern Ghana, is 5 times less likely to be in school than a child in the southern part of the country. Specifically, the Northern region has a school attendance rate of about 50 percent, compared to Greater Accra region in the south which has about 80 percent school attendance rate (Ghana Statistical Service, 2014). Many young girls either drop out of school or flee from the harsh economic conditions in the North to cities in the southern part of the country to become head potters, popularly known as “Kayayei”, to earn a living through carrying loads for people.
As highlighted by Sheila & Unterhalten 2008, poverty is a significant factor that affects the ability of girls to enroll in school. High incidence of poverty is one major factor why many girls are not in school in many parts of Northern Ghana. Nearly 40 percent of the of the rural population in this part of Ghana, live on below 2 dollars a day. Abject poverty prevents many girls from having access to education in rural parts of Northern Ghana, often compelling many vulnerable ones among them to engage in unsafe labour to survive (Camfed, 2020).
Son preference and traditional gender roles that favor boys against girls is another key factor inhibiting access of girls to schools in the Northern part of Ghana. Beyond the burden of household chores that are mostly handled by girls, they still have to support their parents in the farm and even sometimes are solely responsible for selling produce from the farm. Childcare, food for the family, firewood, fetching of water, cleaning and washing are roles reserved for women. The burdensome household chores in most instances keep girls at home throughout the day. This narrative was affirmed by a parent in one of the communities in the Bimoba area in the Northern region “Cooking, sweeping, fetching of water is the preserve of the girl child in the Bimoba culture. They have to be taught how to do this, so they don’t bring disgrace to the family when they marry (Kombian 2008, pg. 41)”. Owing to this, more girls than boys risk dropping out school due to domestic duties in this part of Ghana.
Child marriage is another egregious setback for girl child education in the Northern part of Ghana. One in five girls representing 20 percent marries before they turn 18 in Ghana, one in 20 girls marries before they turn 15. Again, this trend is worse in the Northern part of the country, where one in three girls marries before their 18th birthday, (de Groot et al, 2018). It is illegal to marry a girl who is not 18 in Ghana and yet many families, especially in the rural parts of the North give out the hand of their daughters in marriage at a tender age. Many of these families are often moved by the material wealth that would come out of giving their daughters hand in marriage. It is customarily for a family giving their daughter out in marriage to receive dozens of cattle from the man’s family in the Northern part of Ghana. Due to this, many families often prepare their young girls to get married early instead of preparing them or supporting them to go to school. The benefits the families derive from giving their girls off in marriage is often used to support boys in that same family to marry from other families. Beyond depriving girls, the opportunity of accessing education, de Groot et al (2018), contends that girls who marry at an early age have limited levels of social support, as they are compelled to move in with their husbands and that limits their access to social networks, friends which also invariably contributes to worse health reproductive outcomes for them, since they have to give birth at a younger age in places where they may not have access to quality healthcare.
That notwithstanding, lack of school facilities is equally another prominent issue that continue to prevent many young girls from accessing education in Northern Ghana. There are few schools in these areas which are often located in far distances from the communities. The topography of many rural areas in Northern Ghana makes it difficult for the establishment of well-functioning schools. Most of the communities are sparsely populated making distance to schools a huge barrier to children who live there (Akyeampong, 2004). Kombian (2018), argues that girls in rural parts of the North have to walk at least 3 kilometers to school, coupled with the household chores they have to do before going to school on a daily basis, remains a major setback to girls’ enrolment in that part of the country. He adds that some parents he interacted with cited distance and safety concerns as a major reason for keeping their girls home.
Beyond the distance, cost keeps many rural children out of school. Cost plays a very important role whether a child in the rural part of the North stays in or out of school, even though access to basic education is free. Direct costs like school uniforms, books, shoes, and other levies like Parent Teacher Association (PTA) dues, in addition to the indirect cost of the lost income to families who enroll their children in school is a key determinant regarding whether a girl stays in school or not (Akyeampong, 2004). For many poor homes, these costs may be too much to bear, and they end up weighing the opportunity cost of not enrolling their wards in school, and often girls suffer the most when parents in deprived homes have to make such choices.
One significant issue that disrupts the education of many girls in the rural parts of Northern Ghana is menstruation. Due to the high poverty levels, many families are unable to buy sanitary pads for girls. As a result, many girls during their menstrual cycle have to stay away from school because they cannot afford sanitary pads. Others who brace the odds to go to school during menstruation often face humiliation because they sometimes use rags as pads which soils their school uniforms.
Last but not least, lack of social amenities in rural parts of North in Ghana is a major issue that poses a threat not only to the education of girls but their health. Most communities in that part of the country have no good drinking water, electricity, internet and other basic social amenities. As a result, teachers, nurses, doctors and other essential workers often refuse postings to these areas. So even in instances where there may be schools, these schools may lack teachers or have just 2 teachers for an entire school. It is the same for health centers, as many of these communities have no health centers and the ones that even have, have no doctors or sometimes only have just a physician assistant taking care of thousands of people.
Policy Interventions and Why the Challenges Persist
The government of Ghana, together with several development organizations have made several efforts to reverse the limited access rural girls in the Northern part of Ghana have to education. There is ample evidence that corroborates the fact that families are more likely keep their children in school if their sources of income improve. While Ghana has made a tremendous progress in reducing poverty, rural poverty especially in the North continues to be high. Between 1992 to 2006, 2.5 million people were lifted out of poverty in the South while the incidence of poverty rather increased by 0.9 million in the North (World Bank, 2011). The government set up the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority SADA) in 2010, to bridge the poverty gap between the north and the south but this program became a chagrin to the government due corruption and poor governance structures. As result the incidence of poverty still remains high in Northern Ghana, compelling most young girls to migrate to the South to engage in menial jobs at the expense of their education.
Moreover, UNICEF and other NGOs have partnered to provide satellite schools for rural communities in the North where there are no schools and kids have to walk long distances. Under the “School for Life” initiative, children attend schools in their communities with no strict rules of having to wear uniform thereby cutting down cost for families who may not be able to afford uniforms. The children are also taught in their mother tongue instead of English which makes it easier for a lot of them to able to learn faster since many of them can often speak fluently in their mother tongue as compared with English, which is not their first language. This program has been largely successfully in the areas it has been implemented but the biggest challenge is finding teachers for this program, as it largely depends on volunteers who are fluent in the local language to teach.
Also, to address challenges in enrolment and access to secondary education which disproportionately affects girls more than boys, the government of Ghana, in September 2017, made secondary education free in the country. Under this policy, the government pays tuition and boarding fees for all students. The policy since its inception has increased enrolment significantly and has given especially families of the rural poor in the North access to secondary education, who hitherto would have kept their wards home due to their inability afford the high cost of secondary education.
Type of gender/ethnic/social blindness or cultural biases remain in place
Cultural practices like betrothal, child marriage and female genital mutilation continue to affect girls enrolment in the North of Ghana. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practice common in some parts of the Northern Ghana where young girls are circumcised before they turn 15. FGM was outlawed in 1994 in Ghana and yet the practice persists in some rural parts of the Northern Ghana where families place high premium on virginity of girls and want to reduce premarital sex among girls (Sakeah et al, 2018). In spite of the health risks and dangers associated with this practice, girls who even enroll in school have to stay away from school for weeks and sometimes even months due to the pain and ordeal that comes with FGM.
Recommendations
As echoed by Sheila & Unterhalten (2008), countries that have made great strides in bridging the gender gap and addressing inequalities against vulnerable groups including women have four key things in common, strong political commitment to support women’s education/development, policy development influenced by key stakeholders, complete programs to provide free universal education for all focusing on addressing gender imbalances as well as a commitment by governments and development partners to sustain the drive through provision of resources constantly.
First and foremost, the government must show strong political will to assist women in both education and development. The government must be deliberate and consistent about its policies to address the issue of stark poverty among rural folk in the Northern part of the country. The government can set up microfinance scheme to provide monthly cash incentives to families who live below the poverty line and make keeping girls in school a requirement for accessing such funds. This will not only assist struggling families but give them strong motivation not keep their children home as laborers to support them on their farms or for domestic work at the expense of their education.
Additionally, the government must ensure laws that prohibit outmoded practices like Female Genital Mutilation, and early marriages are implemented to the letter. This will help to reduce the incidence of child marriages and other outmoded cultural practices that many families continue to use to abuse and violate the rights of young girls in the Northern part of the country.
Again, there must be a nationwide effort to break gender stereotypes across all levels of the Ghanaian society. Both the government and civil society must support initiatives like passing the affirmative action bill that has been in Ghana’s parliament for more than a decade to remove barriers that prevents many women from realizing their full potential. When women are given the needed support and have unimpeded opportunities, they are able to excel in their endeavors and serve as strong motivation young girls, and many families especially rural ones who see little value in educating the girl child.
Establishment of girls’ schools and community schools in deprived areas in the North should be a priority for the government and development partners. This will go a long way to provide easy access to schools to many girls and reduce safety concerns most parents have that prevents them from allowing their young girls to walk long distances to school.
References:
Akyeampong K.(2004). Aid for self-help effort? A sustainable alternative route to basic education in Northern Ghana.Retrieved from https://cice.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/publications/Journal7-1/7-1-5.pdf on April, 26, 2021.
Amabo B.C. (2017). Children’s right to education : challenges to female education in Northern Ghana. Case study: Savelugu-Nanton District. Retrieved from https://repository.gchumanrights.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11825/306/Amabo_for_repository.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y on April 27, 2021.
Barrigan H. (2018). Top 10 facts about girls’ education in Ghana. Retrieved from https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-girls-education-in-ghana/ on April 28, 2021.
Camfed Ghana(n.d) Profile of girls education in Northern Ghana. Retrieved from https://camfed.org/our-impact/ghana/on May 1, 2021.
CDD Ghana. (2021). IWD 2021. Prioritize the laying of the Affirmative Action bill before parliament. Retrieved from https://cddgh.org/iwd-2021-prioritize-the-laying-of-affirmative-action-bill-before-parliament-cdd-ghana/ on May 1, 2021
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Fant Kombian E. (2008). Education and girl-child empowerment: The case of Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo district in Northern Ghana. Retrieved from https://munin.uit.no/bitstream/handle/10037/1541/thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y on April 29, 2021.
Global Campaign for Education. 2008. “Ensuring a fair chance for girls.” IN: Aikman Sheila and Elaine Unterhalten. 2005. Beyond Access. Transforming Policy and Practice for Gender Quality in Education. Oxford: Oxfam
Mabefam Gmalifo M. (2013). “Our sisters too matter”: Examining the cultural practices that serve as barriers to girl-child education in Bolni in the Nanumba North District. Retrieved from http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/bitstream/handle/123456789/5843/Matthew%20Gmalifo%20Mabefam_%27Our%20Sisters%20Too%20Matter%27.Examining%20the%20Cultural%20Practices%20that%20serve%20as%20Barriers%20to%20Girl-Child%20Education%20in%20Bolni%20in%20the%20Nanumba%20North%20District_2013.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y on May 1, 2021.
Sakeah, E., Debpuur, C., Oduro, A. R., Welaga, P., Aborigo, R., Sakeah, J. K., & Moyer, C. A. (2018). Prevalence and factors associated with female genital mutilation among women of reproductive age in the Bawku municipality and Pusiga District of northern Ghana. BMC Women's Health, 18(1).
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A557726278/HRCA?u=mlin_m_brandeis&sid=HRCA&xid=c8db2f0c
World Bank (2011) Tackling poverty in Northern Ghana (English). Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/445681468030627288/Tackling-poverty-in-Northern-Ghana
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