Mrs Catherine N. Mikado, Director of the Girls Education Unit of Ghana Education Service (GES), has called for the evaluation of policies and interventions aimed at improving girls’ access to education.

She said there are many challenges impeding the gains so far made towards ensuring sustained female education, particularly at the basic levels.

She called for renewed strategies to address the problem in order to improve the retention rate of girls in basic schools.

Mrs Mikado made the call at the opening of the third National Forum for Girls’ Education Officers in Accra which was on the theme: “Promoting Retention, Performance and Achievements; the Role of Stakeholders in Education.”

The two-day event, organised by the Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) Ghana, an international non-governmental organisation, in partnership with the Girls’ Education Unit of the GES, is expected to generate new strategies to significantly improve the retention of girls in junior high schools (JHS), and the promotion of girls’ education in general.

Mrs Mikado said the theme of the forum brought to the fore the enormous task ahead in improving female education and for stakeholders to take stock of their performances over the past year and also plan for the future.

She said the challenge to the retention rate also stresses the need to heighten awareness that “giving boys and girls equal access to basic education comes with vast opportunities, including good health, decline in population growth and overall economic prosperity.”

The reverse, she said, is the case in the situation where girl-child education is not given priority in the state policy, and appealed for sustained funding from Camfed and other NGOs to sustain the gains made in girls’ education over the years, she said.

Mrs Delores Dickson, Executive Director of Camfed Ghana, said the organisation has over the years provided holistic support to a large number of girls at various levels of education, and formed partnerships with the GES and other stakeholders to strengthen the confidence of females to stay in school.

She touched on the recent research conducted in partnership with the UK Development for International Development, on girls’ clubs and retention in JHS in four districts of the Eastern Region.

The research which was to assess the effectiveness of school-based girls’ clubs in achieving positive outcomes, regarding the retention of females at the JHS levels, showed positive impact, demonstrating increases in the self-esteem, confidence and a sense of collective solidarity among the girls, which helped them to serve as support systems for each other.

Mrs Dickson said those who were able to remain in school had done so through the translation of the assets into motivators for their remaining school days.

“The clubs also serve as instruments for growing skills and knowledge on key social and academic issues, such as sexual and reproductive health, interpersonal communication and study skills,” she added.

Mr Stephen Adu, Deputy Director of the GES, said studies have shown that most of the girls who got pregnant at the JHS levels were often over-aged, and therefore faced social pressures as adults, and therefore challenged stakeholders to ensure the enrolment of females and equal rights as their male counterparts.

Mrs Aissotou Diajhate, IREX Regional Manager, a civil society organisation, urged girls’ education officers to strengthen their support systems for females in their districts and communities, by ensuring follow-ups not only in schools but also home visits for effective monitoring.

She asked teachers to ensure that schools become a safe place for girls, rather than a place of abuse, intimidation and humiliation by instructors who are supposed to be their sources of inspiration and growth.