The World Food Programme and the Ghana Health Service Girls Project seek to support the less privileged girls, who attained the aggregate 06 to 16 in the 2010 Basic Education Certificate Examination.
Speaking at a ceremony in Yendi on Friday, to announce the award winners, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister of Education, in a speech read on her behalf, said education was the bedrock of every progressive society and needed to be taken seriously.
“It is one of the cardinal avenues to reduce poverty and restore one’s self esteem,” she said.
Recognizing the need of education, she said, government commits 30 per cent of the national budget into initiatives and other infrastructural project to enhance teaching and learning in the country.
The event dubbed “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work”, was organized by the WFP.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu said as part of efforts towards realizing the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) two, which focuses on achieving universal primary education by 2015, government had increased the Capitation Grant from GHs 3.00 to 4.50 per child per annum, to enable basic school pupils to meet their sports and culture, as well as, other maintenance cost.
In 2008, Ghana achieved the target of 88 per cent of the MDG Two target and it was envisaged that by 2015 the country would have met the national percentage of 100 per cent, the 2010 Ghana Millennium Development Goal Report 2010 said.
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