The 2015 Annual Northern Girls’ Camp has ended in Tamale at the weekend with a call on female students not to be discouraged by hardships but should persevere and aspire for higher positions in the country.

Mr Abdul Hanan Gundadoo, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) who made the call during the closing ceremony of the six-day camp, said girls could achieve this through hard work, dedication to their studies and avoidance of peer pressure.

“Education is the only tool, which can be used for development and progress in life,” he said.

Mr Gundadoo made the call when he represented Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru, Northern Regional Minister at the closing ceremony of the camp jointly organised by ActionAid Ghana and IBIS, two no-governmental organisations (NGOs), on the theme: “Celebrating Girl Empowerment for Leadership.”

It was aimed at promoting boldness and self-confidence building among girls to reduce marginalisation, discrimination and vulnerability of girls in schools.

The camp is also aimed at ensuring gender parity and to promote quality education in a violence-free environment where girls could stand for their rights and demand rights from boys and other girls, and also be confident enough to challenge their men counterpart.

The six-day camp brought together 170 girls from six districts in the region, which also enabled the girls to discuss issues of their fundamental human rights and how to compete with boys for positions in all spheres of life.

Mr Gundadoo commended the two NGOs for the initiative and gave the assurance that state institutions in the regions would partner any organisation or development partners whose activities are in line with government’s agenda of promoting the education of girls.

He advised the girls to remain disciplined in all their endeavours and should not be influenced by peer pressure to indulge in negative practices that could derail their success in life.

Madam Esther Boateng, Regional Programmes Manager of the ActionAid said her outfit would continue to support the Girls Camp to ensure those from rural schools could participate and learn how to gather courage to improve their skills.

She the programme had groomed girls and put them on a sound footing, which would enable them to take responsible positions in their localities.

Madam Boateng expressed the hope that more girls would be exposed to things that would help build their future.

Mr Eric Kavaarpuo, Project Coordinator of the Education Programme at IBIS said the NGO shares in the ActionAid’s vision hence the need to partner the body to sponsor the girls for the camp.