ECONOMIC AND SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPEDIMENTS TO GIRLS EDUCATION IN THE BUILSA DISTRICT OF THE UPPER EAST REGION OF GHANA

Abstract

This study emerges from the recognition that economic and socio-cultural barriers to girls schooling constitute one of the persistent constraints for attaining the goal of "Basic Education for All" in Ghana in general, and in the Builsa District of the Upper East Region in particular. An underpinning explanation is that the rate of dropouts from schools can provide an appropriate indicator for understanding the magnitude of the problem at the school level, and that the possible areas for investigation to understand the explanatory conditions revolve around political, institutional, economic, sociocultural and school factors. For this reason, the determinants of poor access, retention and participation by girls in basic education in Builsa District were investigated using mixed methods. The quantitative component of the research involved a questionnaire survey of 126 participants. The qualitative component involved three (3) focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with officers at the district education office (n-6) and teachers in selected schools in the district (n-5). The results show that the socio/traditional environment, which is rooted in culture, creates barriers that rob girls of their basic education despite several interventions by government and other stakeholders in education, For example families were more likely to send boys to school at the expense of girls. These globally stand in direct conflict with the objectives or the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); such as achieving of universal basic education and fight against poverty. To deal with this persistent problem a number of strategies have been suggested including sensitising the communities on the importance of girls' education, legal actions. creating an attractive and gender sensitive school environments and using mass media to increase the awareness of the communities about the consequences or certain practices such as early marriage on girls themselves, their fat-Filly and on the community as a whole.