Bongo (U/E) April 6, GNA - CAMFED, a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) and Master Card Foundation are partnering to support twelve schools in the Bongo District in the Upper East Region to multiply girls' access to education for the next five years. The schools consist of one senior high, eight junior high and three primary schools.

Mrs Dolores Dickson, Executive Director of CAMFED, said the programme had a vision to educate, protect, respect and value every child to grow.

She said beneficiaries of the programme would be assisted with basic needs such as books, uniforms and other logistics to retain them in school and bring accelerated benefits to them as individuals, their families and the communities. Mrs Lucy Awuni, Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, who launched the programme in Bongo on Wednesday, said the high rate of illiteracy, especially among women in the country, was not only unacceptable but had serious implications like poor nutrition, high maternal mortality and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Mrs Awuni said if every child of school going age were in school from kindergarten and stayed on to complete at least the basic level of education, they would grow into literate adolescents and responsible adults when provided with skills and higher educational opportunities.

She called for stringent measures to fight illiteracy to facilitate personal and national development which she said would lead to poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Mrs Awuni commended the NGOs in the Bongo District for improving enrolment in schools and expressed the hope that the five year partnership between CAMFED and Master Card Foundation would further ensure that girls were not denied access to education in the district. She said government was doing its part by providing schools with free exercise books, uniforms and transforming more schools under trees by providing modern infrastructure as well as increasing the capitation grant.

Mrs Awuni called on girls in the district to take advantage of the opportunity to move to higher heights on the educational ladder. Mr Clement Akugre, District Chief Executive for Bongo, said the vision of the two partners was in line with the assembly's development agenda and assured them of the assembly's support. He called on the Ghana Education Service to support the programme. 6 April 11