The Zongo Girls’ Rise Project, aimed at sensitizing female students to perform better during the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), on Saturday educated 200 girls from four communities in Accra on how to excel in the upcoming examination.

The final year students were drawn from Mamobi, Nima, Kotobabi, and Kanda in Accra to participate in the project dubbed: the “Zongo Girls’ Exams Clinic.”

The project, which took the form of an examination workshop, brought resource persons to interact with the girls to empower them to sit for the examination without fear and intimidation.

Experienced tutors and resource persons from the West African Examination Council (WAEC) were brought on board to handle finale year students in the core subjects namely: Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies.

Mrs Agnes Teye Kudjoe, the Head of Public Affairs, WAEC, stated that students should, at all cost, avoid examination malpractices so as to pass their exams with dignity.

“We have made provisions to propel the Do’s and Don’ts to aid students during examination and we believe this would help them to a smooth finish,” She said.

Mrs Kudjoe encouraged students to get to the examination hall early, obey all the instructions, make sure they answered questions with good expression and confidence, and ensure they wrote legibly enough for their examiners to read.

She cautioned them to avoid taking calculators, mobile phones and other foreign materials to the examination halls.

“Avoid watching telenovelas and other television programmes and learn very hard in order to pass this exam,’’ she advised.

Madam Freda Prempeh, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said girls constituted more than 51 per cent of the population but they were limited in accessing education due to cultural practices, which had always been a barrier.

She commended the Project organisers for the initiative as it would broaden the knowledge of the girls and empower them to take critical steps to change the wrongs around them.

“Education is a prerequisite for accelerated development and, therefore, an empowered girl will make an immense contribution in the areas of social and economic development.”

She quoted the popular saying by the renowned Educationist, Dr Kwegyir Aggrey, thus: “To educate a man, you educate an individual, but to educate a woman, you educate the whole nation.”

She mentioned that girls were excelling in the Mathematics and Science fields with about 30 female students being identified currently for scholarships through ECOWAS.

She, therefore, appealed to all parents to allow their girls to go to school to be able to make informed decisions about their own live to prevent early marriages and teenage pregnancy.

Ms Humu Gaage, the Ambassador of the Rise Project, said through the intervention, experienced tutors and resource persons had been brought on board to handle the final year students in the core subjects.

She said though lack of education, teenage pregnancy, poverty and early marriages were key problems in the Zongo communities, the Project looked forward to cutting off those barriers to enable the girls to attain a higher level of education to impact positively on society.