Best Approach to Prevent Kayaye: How To Prevent Kayaye In Ghana
Kayayes (Head Porters)
Kayaye is one of the growing money making “venture” in the capital of Ghana having a number of young girls trooping into the city from the Northern part of Ghana.
In as much as the “venture” is putting food on their table, these young girls must secure a proper future for themselves, families, and the nation at large. The Kayaye job (Head Porter/bearer) comes with a lot of risks /or challenges not excluding teenage pregnancies and rape cases.
These young girls hugged their education and traveled from the North down to the South for greener pastures. With data and analysis, there are no proper school structures and other attractive incentives that can motivate these vulnerable young girls to pay attention to their education to the core.
There are no jobs to earn enough income for the family back in the North and the livelihood up there has no appropriate adjective to describe. The homes of these young girls have push them far to the south for money.
Addressing this eating-up challenge that exists for decades in the capital of Ghana, the Executive Director of EDUWATCH, Mr. Kofi Asare shared a report from Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) stating the number of girls in Ghana aged 4 to 17 years and have never attended school and suggested how Kayaye should be prevented in Ghana.
Below is Mr. Kofi Asare’s view on preventing Kayaye in Ghana
How To Prevent Kayaye In Ghana
“Almost half a million (454,014) girls in Ghana aged 4 to 17 years have never attended school. Over a quarter (27.6%) of these girls are in the Northern Region which has the highest number of girls that have never attended school (125,287).”-GSS, 2022.
Education is a function of investments; both school and household. An integrated approach, which improves education access, retention and quality, and economic livelihoods is a sin qua non to sustain basic school enrollment to completion and secondary transition in the impoverished Northern regions.
1. Build basic schools in the many underserved rural communities, make basic schooling attractive with a proper hot meal, free exercise books, textbooks, uniforms, well housed and motivated teachers, decent school furniture etc,..and shorten the distance travelled daily to school (Below 5km).
All these (the above) have been on paper for decades but very poorly implemented. We must be purposive.
2. At the community level, develop climate responsive alternative livelihoods in the communities to mitigate the high poverty levels due to failing agriculture; and build economic resilient systems; and protect our girls.
NB: Don’t go dishing out inputs to party faithfuls and pretend you are developing alternative livelihoods of a community.
Many of these integrated approaches have been successfully executed by NGOs in some communities up north.
Just replicate the models with an honest mindset to solving a problem than merely acting political.
SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh
