Female students selected for high positions

Two female students at the Chereponi and Zabzugu senior high schools (SHS) have made history by contesting and defeating their male counterparts to become senior and assistant prefects in their schools.

They are Miss Nafisah Alhassan who defied all odds and contested for the Senior Prefect Position at the Chereponi SHS and Miss Rubaya Issah also contested as Assistant Senior Prefect for Zabzugu SHS and won.

In the case of Miss Alhassan some teachers initially opposed to her candidature but she made it through to become the school’s first ever lady senior prefect, a position which was often reserved for males in most mixed schools in the region.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, on Thursday, Miss Alhassan attributed her achievement to an initiative by NORSAAC, a Tamale based NGO which organised a Young Female Parliament (YFP) event at her school, and this strengthened and increased her confidence and knowledge level.

“A girls group has been instituted in our school and we were taught a lot of things like leadership skills, public speaking, mobilisation, facilitation and effective communication as women at a leadership position,” she said.

Miss Alhassan urged other females to join the group to be empowered them not for only leadership positions but to be mentored to help them in their quest to achieve their aspirations in life.

The project is working with two Ghana Education Service teachers at the various schools to mentor the group.

Madam Hafsatu Sey Sumani, Head of Policy and Programmes at NORSAAC said, “The Young Female Parliament Project was developed and adopted by Action Aid Ghana and serves as a platform for young girls to deliberate on various developmental and governance issues particularly those affecting the growth, education and the development of young girls and women.

She said the project seeks to enable young ladies appreciate the issues, conduct advocacy and get their voices and opinions across to officialdom.

“The YFP mimic the structure of the national parliament with 40 member constituted by representatives of young females from Senior High Schools in AAG Development Areas, 15 districts and two tertiary institutions in the Northern Region.

“The parliament also has a well-defined leadership structure, standing orders and constitution defining the structure of parliament, roles and responsibilities of key members, leadership and requirements for membership and affiliation as well as an outlined schedule for sittings/proceedings,” she said.

Madam Sey said the leadership was made up of a Speaker, two Deputy Speakers, Majority Leader and Chief Whip, Minority Leader and minority Chief Whip, Parliamentary Administrator and three Clerks of Parliament.