IDG: Gov’t, stakeholders urged to help girls, end child marriage

Government and major stakeholders have been urged to make more targeted investments to provide equitable, quality education and skills training for girls.

The call comes as the world marks International Day of the Girl (IDG) on Tuesday, October 11. It is a decade since the UN declared October 11 as a day to celebrate girls.

This year’s Day is themed: ‘Our time is now – our rights, our future’.

Africa Education Watch, in a statement on Tuesday, underscored that 1 in 4 girls aged between 15 and 19 is not educated, employed nor trained.

“There are an estimated 418,000 out of school children in Ghana, many of whom are girls, due to economic and socio-cultural factors such as child marriage,” Eduwatch stated.

According to UNICEF, on the average, 1 out of 5 girls in Ghana is married before her 18th birthday. In northern Ghana, it is 1 out of 3 girls.

“Efforts aimed at ending child marriage must begin with the prevention of teenage pregnancy and resourcing of social protection and justice sector institutions mandate to prevent child marriage, protect rescued girls from further exploitation, arrest and prosecute perpetrators.”

It noted that girls educated to, at least, the secondary level and beyond are 95 percent less likely to become victims of child marriage.

“The time is now for government and stakeholders to make more targeted investments to provide equitable, quality education and skills training for girls, especially those from poor households, and resource social protection and justice sector institutions to combat child marriage.”

Source: 3news.com|Ghana