World Children’s Day: 1.2 million children in Ghana Don’t Go To School, According to GSS
1,215,546 Ghanaian children of school age are not enrolled in school, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
Of the 1.2 million children, 942,427 have never attended school.
The 2021 PHC Thematic Brief on Childhood Vulnerabilities in Ghana provides statistics on children in Ghana with a focus on the number and distribution of vulnerable children as well as the correlates of child vulnerabilities. These conclusions are drawn from this information.
The statistics were made public as part of events honoring World Children’s Day, which is observed annually on November 20th to encourage global cooperation, raise awareness among children all over the world, and enhance the welfare of children.
The nation’s greatest concentration of youngsters who have never attended school is found in the recently founded Savannah Region. 43.2 percent of the population in the area has never attended school and is illiterate.
The report also showed that over a quarter of a million kids (275,562) between the ages of 5 and 17 struggle with at least one of the following abilities: speech, self-care, walking or climbing stairs, hearing, sight, or physical activity.
The survey “further suggests that one-third of the household population under 18 years, comprising 3,862,259 children, are multidimensionally poor,” which further highlights the awful levels of poverty in which these kids reside. More than half a million children live in multidimensional poverty in Greater Accra (550,118) and Ashanti (539,048), the two regions with the greatest populations.
Another issue is the lack of shelter options for these kids, since more than 3,000 of them sleep outside in the Greater Accra Region.
5,976 kids in Ghana sleep outside because they lack a place to live. The Greater Accra Region, which has the greatest percentage of homeless children (43.6%), is followed by the Ashanti (15.7%) and Eastern (5.4%) regions.
Every year on November 20, World Children’s Day—originally known as Universal Children’s Day—is observed in an effort to foster global understanding, raise children’s consciousness, and enhance their welfare.
The celebration’s theme for this year is Inclusion, For Every Child.
