Lordina Mahama Attends African First Ladies And Spouses Meeting

First Lady, Lordina Mahama, has called on African First Ladies and spouses of heads of governments to use their positions to continuously seek technical support and funding from their development partners to sustain and improve the projects they undertake. This will complement the efforts of government in addressing the educational and health needs of their people. The meeting held on the sidelines of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly was for the African First Ladies and Spouses of heads of government discussed ways of meeting the health and education needs of their respective countries. Representatives of the various countries made a strong case to give girls equal opportunity as boys to access education. This can be done by halting the practice of recalling girls from school to help nurse their younger siblings and sending them to farm or hawk to support their families. The First Lady of Ghana, Lordina Mahama, outlined Ghana�s educational challenges and what is being done to address them: The inability of parents to provide learning materials and food for their wards, Lack of qualified teachers; inadequate infrastructure particularly classrooms for children at the Kindergarten level and the non-availability of appropriate teaching and learning materials to support comprehensive education include factors that hamper quality education. She cited the Introduction of the Capitation Grant which abolished the payment of school fees for basic education; and the introduction of a School Feeding Programme, which provides one hot meal a day to all children in Public Schools as motivation to encourage the less privileged, to enroll and complete their education. The First Lady also spelled out what her foundation, the Lordina foundation is doing to curb the educational challenges �As First Lady, My Foundation has instituted a scholarship scheme for brilliant but needy and deprived students to further their education in Ghana and overseas. These girls, who would otherwise have dropped out of school, have now been provided with a better future. My Foundation is facilitating a project to provide better accommodation and vocational education, for outcast women and their dependents in the Gambaga camp in the Northern Region. This is a camp where mostly elderly women who have been accused of witchcraft and cast out of their communities seek shelter and protection. We are also working to secure funding for the construction of dining halls, hygienic kitchens and for teacher motivation programmes in schools in deprived communities." At the end of meeting it was decided that the African First Ladies and the spouses of heads of government urge their home administrations to develop policies and budgets that will ensure quality health, education and increased access, not only for girls, but for all our children.