{"id":106984,"date":"2025-12-15T14:58:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T14:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=106984"},"modified":"2025-12-15T14:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T14:58:06","slug":"africa-education-watch-urges-parliament-to-act-as-truancy-rises-in-northern-ghana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=106984","title":{"rendered":"Africa Education Watch urges Parliament to act as truancy rises in Northern Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 44 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has called for urgent parliamentary intervention to address a growing trend of truancy and school dropouts among children in northern Ghana, warning that betting, illegal mining (galamsey), and child labour are increasingly pulling children out of classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>According to the education policy think tank, more than 3,500 children have dropped out of school in 2025 alone across five regions \u2014 Northern, Savannah, North East, Upper East and Upper West.<\/p>\n<p>The call follows an extensive census conducted by Eduwatch across 20 districts in northern Ghana to generate community-based data to inform education policy and targeted interventions.<\/p>\n<p>The survey revealed that boys account for the majority of out-of-school children, with particularly high numbers recorded in districts such as Chereponi, Nanumba South, Tatale Sanguli and Bawku West.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WhatsApp-Audio-2025-12-15-at-1.16.19-PM-online-audio-converter.com_-1.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n<p>Speaking on the findings on Channel One, Executive Secretary of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, said the key drivers of truancy are largely economic and disproportionately affect male children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe drivers are mainly economic \u2014 child labour, galamsey, betting and related activities \u2014 which are usually male-dominated,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Asare stressed that while parental responsibility remains critical, stronger state action is required to reverse the trend. He noted that in some communities, schools exist but parents fail to ensure their children attend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are communities where schools are available, yet parents are not mindful of ensuring that their children are enrolled and retained in school. This is where Parliament must come in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will work closely with Parliament, and we are going to have an engagement with Parliament on this census early next year,\u201d Mr Asare added.<\/p>\n<p>Referencing Article 38(2) of the 1992 Constitution, which guarantees Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE), he lamented Ghana\u2019s long-standing hesitation to fully enforce the compulsory aspect of basic education.<\/p>\n<p>He dismissed arguments that enforcement should wait until all educational infrastructure gaps are closed, noting that no country achieves perfect adequacy before acting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo country in the world has complete adequacy in educational inputs, but it has to start from somewhere,\u201d Mr Asare added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a 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                                                             <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Kofi-Asare-1-2-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Africa Education Watch urges Parliament to act as truancy rises in Northern Ghana\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Africa Education Watch urges Parliament to act as truancy rises in Northern Ghana\">Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has called for urgent parliamentary intervention to address a growing trend of truancy and school dropouts among children in northern Ghana, warning that betting, illegal mining (galamsey), and child labour are increasingly pulling children out of classrooms.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[488,491,489,1883,117,761,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa-education-watch","category-education","category-kofi-asare","category-national","category-news","category-parliament","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}