Participants in a group photo
The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service have taken delivery of 12,000 teaching and learning materials from UNICEF Ghana.
All the materials worth about GHC 1,246,320.
The materials, presented with support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and UNICEF Canada National Committee, will benefit 252 Junior High Schools in four regions namely Northern, North East, Oti and Savannah regions.
About 1489 Junior High School teachers and 41,000 students are benefiting in the area of Mathematics and Science.
During the short handing over ceremony in Tema, UNICEF Representative in Ghana, Anne-Claire Dufay, commended the efforts of the government for its dedication on providing education for all particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, where traditional teaching and learning methods have had to be adjusted to cater for the “new normal”.
Ms Dufay further expressed her desire for more opportunities for adolescent girls in rural areas.
She said “Providing more equitable opportunities for adolescent girls at school is a secure way to ensure girls have a fair start of success in their future. And it is expected that these teaching and learning resources will provide a solid set of interventions for girls who have been previously disadvantaged in the choice of science and mathematics as they progressed into Senior High School.”
Country Director of Korea International Cooperation Agency, Mooheon Kong, said KOICA was proud to partner with UNICEF and the government to improve the lives of adolescent girls in Ghana.
The strategic partnership between KOICA has sought to provide a better life for girls in Ghana and this project has witnessed some solid achievements for adolescent girls. The provision of teaching and learning materials have also been supported by the UNICEF Canada National Committee to improve educational outcomes for adolescent girls.
In the Better Life for Girls target districts – Krachi East and Kpandai – many girls at Junior High School faced challenges such as child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and inadequate parental support. This impacted their potential transition to Senior High School (SHS).
In addition to this, boys performed better in Science and Mathematics than girls JHS level. Girls were, thus, disadvantaged in choice of science and mathematics programmes at SHS level.
A scoping study in five other districts (Nanumba North, Saboba, Tolon, West Gonja and West Mamprusi) supported by UNICEF Canada confirmed the same challenges found in Krachi East and Kpandai.
UNICEF will collaborate with Ghana Education Service and other key partners to train teachers in all seven districts in the use and maintenance of the resources.
District Director of Education in Krachi East, Georgina Mensah, representing District Director in all 7 districts, said she is grateful to UNICEF, KOICA and UNICEF Canada National Committee for supporting adolescents in the 7 districts with teaching and learning materials which will go a long way to improve learning outcomes for adolescent girls.
The Deputy Director General (Management Services) of the Ghana Education Service, Anthony Boateng expressed gratitude for the show of support and investment in girls’ education and promised a strict supervision of the teaching and learning materials.
He hoped that this support would be expanded to all parts of the country.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri