The First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has launched a pilot project in the Greater Accra Region for nine coastal communities aimed at getting young girls who drop out of school back to school or into informal education.
Dubbed: “Because I want to beâ€, the project is to be implemented at James Town, Bukom, Chorkor, Teshie and La in Accra; Bortianor in the Ga West municipality, Doryumu, and Adakope in the Shai-Osudoku District and Akplabanya in the Dangme West District.
Under the project, which is being undertaken by the Rebecca Foundation, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), girls who have dropped out of school or are at risk of dropping out will be identified and supported to ensure that they stay in school, while those who cannot continue through formal education will be taught income-generation skills.
The launch, which took the form of ‘a community entry durbar’ at James Town yesterday, was attended by chiefs, queen mothers, opinion leaders, parents, and teenage mothers.
Mrs. Akufo-Addo explained that the project became necessary following a survey that was done in the beneficiary communities to know why teenage girls were dropping out of school to help guide programme planning and improvement of girls’ education in the region.
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She said it would help ensure that girls from the coastal areas become economically stable.
She said it was only when girls were able to fend for themselves that they would become self-reliant and be able to negotiate for better treatment in their relationships.
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