Mayor of Accra tours BECE centers, commends efforts at increasing girl enrolment in schools

The Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Elizabeth Kwatsoe Sackey has expressed her commitment to removing socio-economic, cultural, and systemic barriers that hinder girls' access to education in the city.

According to her, promoting gender balance in education involves creating equal opportunities for all genders to access quality education whilst empowering young girls by providing resources, support, and encouragement to excel academically and pursue their aspirations.

The first female Mayor of Accra said this in an interview after she toured the Kaneshie Cluster of Schools, Bishop Mixed JHS, Saint Joseph Anglican J.H.S, Ministry of Health J.H.S and Mamprobi, Soko J.H.S Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) centers in the Accra metropolis to wish candidates good luck in the exams and caution them against malpractices.

Mayor Sackey said the milestone Ghana had achieved by presenting more female candidates than males for BECE, could not have been possible without policies that eliminated gender biases, provide scholarships, and mentorship programs, as well as foster inclusive learning environments.

She stressed collaboration between parents, schools, communities, and governments to create a more equitable educational landscape.

She disclosed that a total of 6,299 candidates were seated for the exams in the Accra metropolis comprising 2,975 males and 3,324 females adding that the positive programmes being implemented by the government over the years were yielding results.

"The “Send-Your-Girl-child-to-School" advocacy campaigns and other interventions being implemented in the educational sector over the years have helped us. Today if you compare the number of girls within the various schools we went to, they outnumber the boys and I believe strongly that women empowerment is working,” she stated.

She also used the opportunity to commend the teachers who tirelessly prepared the candidates for the examinations and urged the examination supervising body to prevent shortages of question papers to avoid malpractice.

To the parents, she encouraged them to cultivate the habit of investing more of their time and resources in their children to bridge the gender gap and ensure that more females are educated to bring balance to society.

The BECE is written annually after years of primary and J.H.S. education in the country to qualify students for admission into senior high and vocational schools.