Accra, October 11, GNA - Ghana has joined the rest of the world to commemorate the International Day of the Girl on the theme: “Girl Force: Unscripted and Unstopable,” to help spread awareness on achievements for the girl child.
The 2019 celebrations also marks 25 years of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration, and 30 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
As part of the activities for the day, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection through the Department of Children, and in collaboration with UNICEF, Plan Ghana, World Vision and other Partners, at the national level, engaged about 500 boys and girls and 30 teachers from selected schools in the Accra Metropolitan Assembly for practical education.
The pupils were grouped and given diverse topics for active discussions after which they were given the opportunity to share their knowledge with the wider gathering.
The topics included safety tips, good morals, teenage pregnancy, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health issues, drug abuse, cybercrime including bullying, posting and sharing of nude pictures on the internet, as well as the advantages of social media in educational research.
Dr Afisah Zakariah, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, commended the organisers of the programme and said the annual event in Ghana aimed to support and empower young women to be who they wanted to be.
She said the event was also to draw the attention of the government and stakeholders to the need to provide better education, protection from violence, and put a stop to child marriage, inequalities in education, legal right, medical care and safe environment for the Girl Child.
Specifically the day would be spent with girls in upper primary to JHS to educate them on their rights and responsibilities, negative cultural practices, their health and wellbeing, puberty and sexual development of adolescents, menstrual hygiene management and adolescent protection issues at all levels in the country, she said.
She said this would be done through the engagement of selected children from selected schools using the child protection community facilitation toolkit.
She explained that the event would also be used to create awareness on the Ghanaian Against Child Abuse (GACA) Campaign and solicit pledges for the campaign.
Dr Zakariah indicated that at the regional and at the decentralised levels, teams would use appropriate tools to engage adolescents on selected topics nationwide, to bring the attention to the achievement for girls rights in line with the Beijing Declaration and platform for action and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Representatives from UNICEF and KOICA called for the need for wider sensitisation of adolescents and stakeholders nationwide on all forms of discrimination against girls including negative cultural practices, attitudes, create awareness on the need to promote and protect the rights of girls as well as increase awareness of their needs and potential.
They also called for the promotion of adolescent health and wellbeing and emphasised on the need to strengthen the role of the family in improving the status of girls.
“We must protect all children without any form of discrimination; ensure their views are heard in matters concerning them and to create a safe environment for girls to develop their full potential,” they said.
The pupils were taught some games that were based on life safety to enable them identify danger and report to the appropriate authorities.
GNA
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