Kongo (U/R), May 6, GNA - Mrs. Stella Yembila, a retired educationist, said on Wednesday that in spite of the enormous natural resources and a large land area, little has been done in the three northern regions to reduce poverty. She said this on when she delivered a lecture on the importance of education especially of the girl-child at a two-day camp meeting at Kongo in the Talensi-Nabdam District. It was organized by the Centre for Sustainable Development Initiatives (CENSUDI), a non-governmental organization working in area of gender equality and the marginalized in 13 communities in the region. The camp meeting was used to launch a collection of CENSUDI Scholarship beneficiary clubs known as "Apoka Karenyane." Apoka was a woman who fought and killed the leader of a slave raiding group as they tried to capture men at Bukere, a suburb of Bolgatanga, to be sold as slaves.

Mrs Yembilla said despite government interventions including the Free Compulsory Education, Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme, people in the area were still reluctant to send their children to school especially girls. She said most often children dropped out of school in classes four and five and some girls, especially in the mining areas in the region, get pregnant and stop school. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, the beneficiaries of the scholarship thanked CENSUDI for the support and said had it not been for the organization, most of them might have stopped school since their parents were mostly peasant farmers. Some of the parents who accompanied their children to the camp also expressed thanks to CENSUDI for the support given to their children.