ABOUT 79,733 girls in the country, aged 12 to 17, have been in union, either married or living together with a man, according to the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC).
The PHC indicated that out of this number, 25,999 are girls in Junior High School (JHS) aged between 12 and 14.
The regions with the highest percentage of girls ever in union are North East with 13.0 per cent, Savannah with 10.9 per cent, and Northern with 10.6 per cent, all with rates more than twice the national average 4.0 per cent.
Despite the free and compulsory universal basic education, almost a quarter of a million girls, representing 244,731, aged 6 to 14 years have never attended school at all.
“Three out of every 10 of these girls are in the Northern Region which has the highest number of girls who have never attended school (73,516) followed by the Savannah (27,930) and North East (22,857) regions.
“These three regions also have the highest percent of girls currently not attending school (never attended or attended in the past) with Savannah leading all regions with 40.2 per cent followed by the North East Region (29.3 per cent) and the Northern Region (28.5 per cent),” it said.
The national figure is 7.8 per cent which represents 285,271 girls aged 6 to 14 years who are not attending school.
Three out of every four girls representing 75.8 per cent, aged 6 to 14 years and not attending school are living in rural areas.
Further, 99,150 girls under 15 years are engaged in economic activity with half of them representing 49.7 per cent out of school.
It also noted that half of the girls representing 49.9 per cent engaged in economic activity are in the Northern (22,647), Oti (17,694), and North East (9,153) regions which have the highest share of girls in economic activity.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) released these statistics on the International Day of the Girl, based on the 2021 Population and Housing Census dataset.
The aim is to highlight challenges preventing young girls from reaching their full potential such as early marriage, and lack of access to educational and other opportunities.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri