Twenty girls in various Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Northern and North East Regions have received scholarship bags as part of efforts to support them to remain in school.

The scholarship bags contained sanitary pads, calculators, note and exercise books amongst others considered as basic essentials that girls needed to enable them to concentrate on their academic activities.

The scholarship bags were presented to the beneficiary girls by the Salpawuni Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, as part of its ONE4SHE Education Project, with the aim to make life comfortable for female students especially those from rural communities.

The beneficiary girls were students of Presbyterian SHS, Tamale, Walewale Senior High and Technical School, Gambaga Girls SHS amongst others.

Miss Amata Salpawuni Muniru, Founder of Salpawuni Foundation, who spoke during the launch of the ONE4SHE Education project and the presentation of the scholarship bags to the girls at Pishigu in the Karaga District in the Northern Region, said there was the need to eliminate barriers to girls' education, hence, the initiative.

She said the initiative by the Salpawuni Foundation, which would see the beneficiary girls receive the items especially the sanitary pads during each term, was also to complement government's efforts at promoting access to education especially for the females in the country.

She expressed the need to bridge the gap of inequality by promoting rural girl-child education adding, "The issue of girl-child education remains a great challenge that needs serious and immediate attention. Many girls have a lot of promising expectations but fail to achieve them due to financial constraints that result in frustration and anxiety and have made them mothers and wives".

Meanwhile, the Salpawuni Foundation, under its one-child one-computer project, has also opened Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre at Pishigu to help community members and pupils to acquire practical knowledge of ICT.

The facility, named Zelia ICT Centre, is in partnership with the University of Valencia in Spain, and a student from the University would provide ICT tuition for the people for three months after which the facility would be managed by experienced people in the community.

Miss Salpawuni Muniru expressed gratitude to the Chief of Pishigu, Naa Alhassan Andani, for his immense support for the project in the area.

Mr Alhassan Shani, Circuit Supervisor, Sung Circuit, Karaga District, expressed the need for parents to pay more attention to the girl-child by supplying their educational needs to enable them to remain in school.

Mr Shani lauded Salpawuni Foundation for its initiatives saying they were vital to improving access to education especially for the females.

Some of the girls, who received the scholarship bags, expressed gratitude to the Foundation for the gesture saying the package was important in addressing their needs in school.