Free SHS Will Help Reduce Fertility Rate – World Bank

General News of Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-03-27

Mr. Henry Kerali, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, described Ghana's Free SHS policy as an initiative that will give girls the opportunity to learn skills that can be used before reproduction.

He said such empowerment would better prepare them for motherhood, reduce high birth rate, maternal mortality and strengthen the Human Capital Index (HCI).

According to the World Bank, the HCI is the knowledge, skills and health that people accumulate throughout their lives, enabling them to realize their potential as productive members of society.

Kerali said this during the teleconference to launch a quarterly dialogue on the organization of African civil society and parliamentary development on Tuesday in Accra.

The dialogue, which would be a quarterly interactive program among 16 African countries, aims to promote social inclusion, accountability and advocate for a greater voice.

Under the theme: "Challenges and Opportunities for Human Capital in Africa", was also used to discuss highlights of the World Bank's Human Capital Project in Africa (WBAHCP).

As part of its efforts to improve Ghana's human capital index, the Bank implemented programs that included social protection, skills, community water and sanitation to enable Ghana to catch up with its peers like Rwanda.

Mr. Kerali badured that the Bank would support Ghana's development programs, for example by giving a second chance to people who did not have access to education to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to move the country to the country. rank of the HCI and become the best of Africa.

Of the 100%, Ghana has reached 44%, which ranks 116 countries out of 157 in the HCI report published in 2018.

The HCI report found that in the country, 95 out of every 100 children survived to the age of five, while a child who started school at the age of five four years should have completed 11.6 years at the age of 18 years.

He further noted that across Ghana, 76% of 15-year-olds would survive until the age of 60.

Although Ghana has a huge potential in natural resources, the country has not been able to develop sustainably due to the low capacity of its human resources.

To reverse the trend, he suggested the need to invest in human resources to absorb the right innovation and technology to make the best use of natural resources.