BY NANA EFFEI
The Graduates and Professionals of Ga-Dangme Network (GPGD), in partnership with Plan International Ghana, is implementing the Ghana Education Outcomes Project (GEOP Lot 7A) to identify and support Out-of-School Children (OOSC) through community-based engagement, partnerships, and reintegration strategies.
The Graduates and Professionals of Ga-Dangme (GPGD) Network is a registered non-profit, non-political organization established in the year 2023, headed by Mr. Emmanuel Obodai, a native of the area. This network aims to unite, empower, and mobilize educated and skilled workforce of Ga-Dangme citizens toward sustainable community development.
As part of their ongoing mobilization activities, the GPGD team, powered by the Plan Ghana International, visited the Glefe community within the Ablekuma West Municipal. The purpose of the visit was to engage local leaders, school administrators, and parents to discuss effective ways of bringing out-of-school children back into the classroom.
In view of this, the team held a productive meeting with the Assembly Member of Glefe and interacted with the management of Rev. Mintah Education Complex and Prince Yaw Education Complex, two private schools that operate tuition-free to support children from low-income households.
In their interaction with the team, both institutions shared their experiences and challenges while reaffirming their commitment to collaborate in achieving the goals of the GEOP Lot 7A project.
This field observations, according to records, revealed a significant number of children, particularly between the ages of 8 and 16 years, who were out of school and often seen loitering within the community during school hours.
Alarmingly, data collected in that community revealed that, many of these children have been exposed to smoking, alcoholism, and other harmful social behaviors, posing a serious risk to their wellbeing and future, as well as national security.
This situation, the network has lamented, calls for urgent collective action involving local leadership, parents, educators, and development partners to provide mentorship, psychosocial support, and safe educational alternatives to aid rescue these future leaders from this destructive ways of life, for a better Ghana tomorrow.
It is in this regard that the network and its partners are calling for more hands on deck to be able to effectively address the issue for better results.
The President of the network, Mr. Emmanuel Obodai, has bewailed that, if stakeholders do not provide a timely intervention to salvage the situation, Mother Ghana would end up mourning her future for generations to come.
The discussions highlighted the importance of collaboration between government, private institutions, and community-based organizations to overcome systemic barriers to education. Recommendations from the engagement include:
- Strengthening community sensitization campaigns.
- Establishing referral and tracking systems for identified out-of-school children.
- Partnering with tuition-free schools for reintegration.
- Encouraging local leaders to champion education-focused advocacy, the president of the network outlined.
In a brief interaction with the media, Mr. Emmanuel Obodai, emphasized that, his network’s collaboration with Plan International Ghana, remains dedicated to ensuring that no child is left behind in education.
He maintained, “through the Complementary Education Outcomes (GEOP Lot 7A) initiative, we continue to empower communities, strengthen partnerships, and create pathways that give every child the opportunity to learn and thrive.”
He stressed on the need for more concerned stakeholders to come on board to support this great vision of his network to work as a firmed team to achieve all the above mention objectives, to enable them extend their tentacles across other areas of the country beyond just the boundaries of Ga-Damgbe, as the name connotes.
“Together, we believe that education is not just a right — it is the foundation of hope, dignity, and opportunity”, he reemphasized.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
