36 STUDENTS IN 3 NORTHERN REGIONS HONOURED (PAGE 20)

THIRTY-SIX students from the three northern regions who obtained between aggregates six and 15 in the 2006/07 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) have received various sums of money ranging from GH¢300 to GH¢400 under a scholarship scheme.
In addition, the students received certificates, books and hampers.
Known as the Ghana Education Service (GES)/World Food Programme (WFP) girls education scholarship and awards, the first category of the beneficiaries, who had up to aggregate seven, received GH¢400, certificates, books and hampers while the second category of students with aggregates eight up to eleven, had books and other gifts as well as certificates and cash.
The third category being those with aggregates 13 to 16, were also given similar awards.
The ceremony, which was on the theme: “Investing in women and girls,” also marked the award of special prizes to some headteachers.
The outgoing representative of the United Nations WFP in Ghana, Ms Trudy Bower, in an address, said 59 girls, who were currently pursuing senior high school (SHS) education, had so far benefited from the scheme since its introduction about six years ago.
She expressed the hope that the award scheme would encourage other students in the junior forms to study in order to obtain better grades in the BECE to benefit from the award scheme.
Ms Bowers further stressed the importance of girl child education in the efforts to transform the society into a better place, pointing out that “the education of girls and women is the surest way to achieving greater economic Empowerment.”
Commenting on the supply of food to schoolchildren under the WFP girls’ education activities in the three northern regions, she said 45,000 girls in 802 schools across 25 districts across northern Ghana benefited from the programme.
“Girls who had attended school for 85 per cent of the month were given food rations of cereals, oil, and iodised salt as incentive to them and their families,” she noted.
She also appealed to district assemblies to institute by laws against cultural practices which were inimical to the education of girls.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr George Hickah Benson, for his part lauded the scholarship scheme and said it had increased the enrolment of girls in schools, particularly senior high schools.
He said the meals given to schoolchildren under the WFP, coupled with the introduction of the Capitation Grant by government had not just attracted more children into schools but also helped to improve the nutritional needs of children as well as their mental and physical development.
Mr Hickah Benson pledged the support of the regional co-ordinating council towards the successful implementation of the programme, and charged the various assemblies to do same.
He also congratulated the award winners, and urged them to study hard so that they could win more laurels.