Tolon (NR), May 24, GNA - The International Labour Organization (ILO), under its International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), has instituted a scholarship programme for deprived girls in the Tolon/Kumbung and Savelugu/Nanton districts to complete their education to eliminate child labour in the Northern Region.

Under the programme, deprived girls are identified with support from Community Development Associations and with the collaboration of the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS), a Tamale-based NGO.

RAINS provides humanitarian and development services to deprived and needy communities. The girls are given full sponsorship including free school uniforms, exercise books, footwear and mathematical sets. Some 650 pupils from the two districts are benefiting from the ILO/IPEC support programme in some schools in the districts. Fifty girls had been withdrawn from operating as common careers "Kayayee" and are acquiring vocational skills.

Mr Emmanuel Otoo, ILO/IPEC Country Programme Coordinator (Ghana), said ILO/IPEC was withdrawing more than 2,000 girls from mines and quarries this year.

Mr Otoo said there was the need for district assemblies to factor in child labour issues in their District Medium Term Development Planning to ensure that the program continued after ILO/IPEC withdraws its support.

The group paid a courtesy call on Mr Eric Opoku-Nkansah, the Tolon/Kumbungu District Coordinating Director, who gave the assurance that the district would collaborate to ensure that child labour and trafficking was eliminated from the district.