Ignorance, poverty, cultural priorities, early marriages, lack of educated female role models have been identified as some of the socio-cultural barriers to girls' education in the Northern parts of the country. A research conducted by World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) has indicated that the Northern Region of Ghana suffers from poverty, literacy, educational enrolment and completion and rank last among the 10 regions. The WUSC is a network of individuals and post-secondary institutions who believe that all people are entitled to knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to a more equitable world and also with a mission to foster human development and global understanding through education and training In a presentation at a dissemination seminar for Ghana and Burkina Faso at a forum in Accra on Tuesday, Mr. Christopher Summerville of Canada said decision makers of some of the communities did not understand the long-term effects of education, thus making parents reluctant to send their girls to school. He said some cultural practices made girls to do a disproportionate amount of household chores and the prioritization of cattle and marriage put girls at a disadvantage when it came to education. The research therefore recommended among others the need for role models for them to look up to and provide them with confidence necessary to push them on to greater heights, guidance and counselling for girls as well as awareness creations in the affected areas. Mr. Dery Kogo Elias of the University of Development Studies said though the country was making good progress towards the Universal Basic education it still has a long way to go. He said the research also recommended a career fair to address the problems of teenage pregnancy, peer pressure, gender inequality at school, early marriage and poor performance of girls in schools to boost the morale of society and that of girls in the area. He noted that it would be insufficient to provide financial incentives to educate girls without addressing the deep-seated cultural attitudes on the supposed worthlessness of educating girls and the superior intelligence and ability of boys. Mr. Elias explained that in developing a programme to address the problem of socio-cultural barriers, the poverty factor should be taken into account. Outgoing Deputy Minister of Education, Professor Kwame Twumasi Ampofo said intervention aimed at enhancing education had been at the heart of government in the last six years and had identified that quality of human capital would determine the success or failure of all endeavours and that was why it had placed such priority on enhancing development in the human capital sector of education. The new educational reforms expected to take off in September this year, he said, would place emphasis on the quality of teaching and learning, including the relevance of the curriculum to skills development. He said the seminar was taking place at the time when the African Union had launched an ambitious second decade of education and was repositioning the importance of girl child as well as science and technology education to lift the continent from poverty to wealth creation. Capitation grants to all public schools and making basic education entirely free of fees and levies as well as the school feeding programme had led to over 16 percent increase in enrolments in basic schools, he said. He however noted that the issue of low gender parity in some 15 districts in the country of which eight were located in the three Northern Regions still remained a challenge and said that, the research into the communities and family barriers to girls education was really appreciated. Mr. Akwasi Addae-Boahene, Country Director of WUSC said its international seminars was to bring a wide range of people together every year to discuss subjects of intense interest, adding that, 50 years ago the WUSC international took place in Ghana on the theme: "Africa in Tomorrow: a study of the aims and problems of developing countries, a special reference to Ghana. "And after 50 years the seminar is back in Ghana focusing on key development problems of the century on the theme: "Community and Family barriers to Girls education in the northern region of Ghana", he added. He said in a society where thousands of girls and women were marginalized, opening school doors to children, especially girls was so important and was the best chance to defeat poverty. Ghana, Mr. Addae-Boahene noted, needed to do everything that supported education of girls, adding that free education and the introduction of the schools feeding programme was not enough to guarantee a future for the thousands of children who were not enrolled as well as that drop-outs. The country also needed a sustained campaign to reverse the cultural and traditional notions that had kept girls out of school; sent them to early marriages; made them mothers and deprived them of achieving economic and social independence. Source: GNA