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A total of fifteen selected teachers from Wa Municipal and Wa West Districts have been trained on how to promote gender friendly school environments in six selected schools.

As part of the training, the teachers have been assisted to develop action plans for implementation to help bridge the differences in roles society assigned to both men and women.

The project dubbed Gender “Nkabom” is an initiative of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) with support from the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF).

Madam Helena Awurasa, the National Gender Coordinator of GNAT, said the Gender “Nkabom” project started in 2007 with the vision to change attitudes and belief systems associated with the various roles that society have assigned to men and women and promote an effective working relationship between boys and girls.

She said if this was to be achieved then the teacher could not be overlooked; hence the need for the in-service training for some selected teachers who would be the front liners in championing the cause at the community level.

Madam Awurasa said these teachers would be advocating for gender friendly facilities such as urinals, toilets, water and changing rooms among others for schools to help make the pupil, especially the girl child, comfortable at school.

She said they would equally be responsible for sensitizing the community members to understand the importance of combining boys and girls to work effectively instead of over burdening the female child.

Gender “Nkabom” will give teachers and parents the experiences they need to help the children improve on their working relationship by working together effectively, she said.

Madam Awurasa said they would constantly keep in touch with the group to see how they could advise and support them to carry out their duties effectively.

Diane Lawler, a representative of the CTF, expressed the hope that the training would be enough for participants to start making the necessary change in attitudes and belief systems concerning the issue of gender in their communities.

She said this was important in ensuring that every child especially the female child was able to have a brighter future.

Madam Gifty Apanbil, GNAT Deputy General Secretary in charge of Education and professional Development, said the issue of gender was indeed a big problem in Northern Ghana and hoped that the Gender “Nkabom” project would be what they needed to make a big change in the area.

Participants were taken through some topics such as “understanding gender concepts”, “Ghana’s social perceptions of men and women”, “division of labour in Ghanaian society”, “practical and strategic gender needs” and an “introduction to the Gender Action Plans”.

The rest are “time management and lobbying”, “gender equitable teaching strategies”, “comprehensive sexuality education”, community mobilization for gender” and the “writing of the Action Plans”.