A 15-year-old girl has been made ceremonial District Chief Executive for Okere in the Eastern Region to mark International Day of the girl child celebrated globally on October 11.

The theme for this year’s International Day of the Girl Child is “my voice, our equal future”.

The DCE for Okere Daniel Kenneth relinquished his position to Henrieta Ametepe a student of Mintakrom D/A Junior High School for 24 hours to act as DCE at a ceremony held at Dawu Akuapem by Plan International Ghana.

Among the functions performed by the 15-year-old girl was inspection of a Teachers bungalow constructed in Dawu Community.

Delivering a speech, as DCE, at an event, Henrieta Ametepe listed a number of projects undertaken in Okere District to improve on education and living standards of the people.

She, however, called on stakeholders to help address issues of Cyber violence, lack of girl-friendly facilities in Schools, child marriage, and sexual harassment in schools.

“Today’s day cannot be celebrated without telling you a few challenges confronting girls to help fight for the betterment of their future. We should protect girls from contracting the HIV/AIDS virus, girl’s truancy in school during menstruation due to girl-friendly facilities not in those schools. We need to ensure we have girls’ friendly facilities in all schools to stop this challenge, forced marriage is another issue we need to take into consideration. This is to ensure parents and caregivers do not send their girl child into marriage due to pregnancy. Drug abuse is another factor to be dealt with”.

The Eastern Region Unit Manager of Plan International Ghana, Kofi Adade Debrah said the event called “Girls Take Over” is to empower young girls in the district to aspire to occupy higher positions in society dominated by males.

“We are just taking an opportunity to tell girls that the world is not just as they see it. There are greater things up there girls could become. So improving upon the frame of reference of girls, is a way of giving the girls a bigger horizon of thinking so as you see a girl taking over here today as District Chief Executive means that may be in the lifetime of that particular girl in her locality she has never seen a female DCE before but once it is done in terms of this event it will portray to all the girls here that what a man can do a woman too can do”

Kofi Adade Debrah though acknowledged strive made in improving girl child education at Basic and Senior High School level, he is worried that many of these girls do not progress to tertiary Institutions.

“Over the years Ghana has come far in term of gender parity at the basic level, at the second level but what remains to be done is at the tertiary level especially in sciences and engineering.I must say when you go to areas of Engineering you will have only about less than 20% of the population undertaking Engineering program that comprises that of girls”

The Queenmother of Agyemanti in Aburi traditional area, Nana Awo Yaa Otwiaa I advised girls in the Akuapem area to take their education seriously and abstain from sex to prevent being impregnated.