The National Youth Authority (NYA) in the Upper West Region has initiated girls’ empowerment programme in Senior High Schools (SHS) to educate and inspire female students on how to aspire to become responsible leaders.

The NYA outreach programme for girls seeks to create a forum for female students to interact and discuss issues challenging their educational pursuits and fashion ways of overcoming them to achieve success in life.

The programme has reached out to over 2,000 female students in three SHSs since it was launched in March 2019.

The schools include Wa Senior High School, Wa Islamic Girls and St. Francis Girls Senior High in Jirapa.

“Building a positive self-image for girls was necessary as many girls suffer from self-esteem and confidence problems and need supportive hands to develop essential traits,” Mr Archibald Donkoh, NYA Regional Director said during an interaction session with a cross-section of the girls in Wa Senior High School.

He said access to education play a vital role in female empowerment, and expressed worry about rising number of girls dropping out of school which endanger the quality of their future.

He encouraged the female students to believe in themselves as well as identify mentors who they could tap into their knowledge and experience to guide their career growth and development.

He also advised them to abstain from early sex and indulgence in substance abuse which have the tendency of truncating their education and for that matter their future ambitions.

The girls were further encouraged to take stock of their lives periodically and work to improve upon their weaknesses as well as study seriously and aim higher to reposition themselves in competition with their male counterparts along their academic and career paths.