Children in Ghana

The Republic of Ghana is named from the word Ghana itself, meaning Warrior King, although at the time of independence from Britain in 1957 the area was known as the Gold Coast. The name Ghana was chosen as it reflected the ancient Ghana empire that thrived there in ancient times.

Just 22% of children in Eritrea have access to safe water, whilst a mere 13% have access to sanitation facilities leading to regular epidemics of diarrhoea, malaria, and respiratory infections. The infant mortality rate is a staggering 55%. Poverty is also widespread with 81% of children in rural areas living in families with an income of less than £123 per year per person. Life for children in Ghana should be good. Its a stable democracy with a healthy economy and children are treasured within society with parents and the wider family doing all they can to ensure the child grows up happily.

Yet for many children, just like this little lad who spontaneously burst into dance on sight of a video camera, life is anything but good as much of the country's wealth goes on foreign debt, leaving little behind for health and education programs. Life is particularly harsh in the dry savannah north of the country where most of the population is dependent on subsistence farming and poor rainfalls have led to not only poor harvests but poor health outcomes for children compounded by the fact that only 7% of children in rural Ghana having access to safe sanitation facilities.

Children in Ghana begin two years of kindergarten education at the age of four before undertaking primary education up to the age of twelve then three years at the junior secondary school level and a further three years at the senior secondary school level. However for many this is not possible as only primary and junior secondary school education is free, meaning that for many children from poor families they do not get the chance to complete their education with only 6% of all children attending senior secondary level schooling.

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