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Published: January 11th 2008
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After a local study shockingly revealed that there is a high rate of school dropouts (ca. 50%!)(MISSING), primarily young girls, within coastal fishing towns and villages throughout Ghana, The Child Education and Welfare Fund decided to set up The Mother Teresa School for Girls in Senya Bereku.
Senya Bereku is a coastal town in the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District in the Central Region of Ghana. As a natural consequence of its location, the sea provides the main occupation through fishing. Whilst the men do the actual catching of the fish, the women process and market the fish to domestic consumers. The problems are multiple. Senya Bereku is one of many fishing towns and villages in Ghana, and throughout the coast of West-Africa. Fighting in a competitive market, often lacking basic technology to process or preserve the fish over longer periods of time means the rewards from fishing are minimal. In addition, coastal erosion caused by growing sea levels threatens homes, boats and the towns themselves. Due to over fishing, from both local and foreign vessels, the stock is rapidly dwindling, and as this is the main source of income for this town the future is looking bleak.
Uncommonly known this widespread
poverty affects local young girls the worst. In keeping with cultural practices, parents who can not afford educational fees choose, if they even have the ability, to educate their male children.
Every child has a right to education, (article 18 from the UN Convention of Rights of the Child), and The Mother Teresa School for Girls aims at providing underprivileged girls free education so they too can dream. The Mother Teresa School for Girls
The School was established in February 1998 through the instrumentality of the Executive Director, Mr. Kwesi Essel-Koomson, who has been paying the salaries of the teachers and attendants personally. From his admiration and motivation of the good works of Mother Teresa (founder of the Sisters of Charity) the school was named after her.
Initially, The Mother Teresa School for Girls had one teacher with 25 girls. Now, 2007, the school has 20 trained teachers, several assistant teachers and 2 volunteers for 564 students. The school is from nursery to Junior Secondary School (obviously considering lack of educational background the age range is from 8-18). Ms. Augustina Addae who has a M.A in English from the University of Cape Coast is the head supervisor
of the school.
The Mother Teresa School for Girls has been absorbed into the public school system by Ghana Education System (GES), which has determined that the Catholic Education Unit will manage it. CEWF will continue to provide financial assistance in support of the school through profits from the poultry project.
The poultry project allows the community to sell the eggs of the over 7000 chickens locally for profit. The Ministry of Women and Childrens Affairs contributed ¢300,000,000 and the remaining ¢234,000,000 was a grant from The British High Commission.
A result of low enrollment of girls in Senya Bereku, the pervasive poverty, negative cultural values, and the role of women in the socio-economic development and welfare of children in the society as a whole led to the development of the school. This being the case it is the aim to increase and sustain the education of girls in Senya Bereku and prepare them for the highest level possible based on academic abilities.
Currently plans are underway for a vocational school to provide opportunities to learn other trades that are less academic based to benefit more of the girls.
Poverty
Due to the harsh economic
circumstances some girls arrive to school without school uniforms and even eating. In fact it is really sad to note that sometimes it is very difficult for families to afford one balanced meal a day as some earn less than a dollar a day. This leads parents to keep their child at home to help with extra work, and be protected against social stereotypes surrounding poverty.
CEWF wants to provide food at The Mother Teresa School for Girls to entice parents to let their child go to school, but lack of funds means that this project has been put on hold.
Child Trafficking
Many Ghanaian children are trafficked from their home villages to work in the fishing industry. Living in tough conditions and working long hours every day, they are exploited by fishermen desperate to feed their families and eke out a living along the banks of Lake Volta. The depletion of stocks in Lake Volta is one of the key reasons why children are needed as workers in the fishing industry. Children represent cheap labour, and their small, nimble fingers are useful in releasing the fish from the ever smaller nets. Another task that trafficked children frequently
perform is diving to disentangle the fish nets from the numerous tree stumps that are scattered throughout the lake. Diving is a dangerous job that can have dire consequences for the children, from catching water-based diseases such as bilharzia and guinea worm to death from drowning.
Many parents don't know the value of education; for them, it's more immediately valuable for their children to learn how to fish from an early age. Therefore not only educating, but providing opportunities after is vital in sustainable developing communities such as Senya Bereku.
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