By Nana Oye Gyimah / Victoria Agyemang, GNA
Besease (C/R), Oct. 17, GNA - Globally, an average of 15 million girls marry before the age of 18 annually while a teen girl dies every ten minutes as a result of violence perpetrated against them; with 130 million girls between the ages of six and 17 out of school.
Mr John Ekow Aidoo, Central Regional Manager of the Ghana Red Cross Society, who made this known at this year's regional celebration of the International Girl Child Day at Besease in the Komenda-Edina -Eguafo -Abrem (KEEA) Municipality, called on Ghanaians to prioritise girl-child education and their security.
The day, declared by the United Nations to be celebrated on October 11 each year, was marked globally on the theme: “Empowering girls for a brighter tomorrow”; and the national theme was: "Promoting access, transition and completion of education for girls ".
In an effort to stem these persistent obstacles, the Ghana Red Cross is merging its efforts to the Strategic Approaches to Girls Education (STAGE) Project.
The STAGE project aims to lower the barriers that vulnerable and marginalized girls face in attaining education and create awareness about the need for safeguarding and protecting the girl.
The goal is to rethink how girls and young women across the world can transition into the workforce, starting with expanding the educational opportunities available to them.
Therefore, it helps to highlight and address the needs and challenges of girls, promote adolescent girls empowerment and enlighten them on their human rights for them to support their families, communities and countries.
Mr Aidoo said the main objectives of the STAGE project is to create awareness on the need for the protection of girls against sexual exploitation, neglect and abuse.
He said the project will recruit 500 girls from 20 communities in the municipality to provide accelerated learning programmes to the beneficiaries through numeracy, literacy, life skills and vocational enterprises.
To tackle the challenges associated with child marriages, teenage pregnancies, school dropouts, and streetism in the region, Mr Aidoo urged parents to invest in their children's education and called on girls to stay away from bad company.
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