Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
Introduction
T-TEL partners with the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ghana TVET Service (GTVET), and other stakeholders to strengthen Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) in schools across Ghana. Our role is to provide technical support that helps institutions adopt and lead transformative interventions, ensuring policies and practices respond to the needs of all learners.
Structure:
There are six specific issues which T-TEL aims to address:
1. Underrepresentation of women among teaching staff and in leadership positions in SHS, SHTS and TIs.
2. Issues with inclusive education including lack of data on enrolment and lack of inclusive teaching methods which make provision for learners with special needs or who may require remedial instruction.
3. Inadequate measures and policy frameworks to ensure the mainstreaming of gender and social inclusion concerns and effective implementation of GESI-related policies.
4. Gender-based violence and sexual abuse remain a risk and barrier to quality education especially for girls. Deep-rooted discriminatory sociocultural and institutional practices lead to marginalisation and exclusion. Some individuals within secondary education institutions hold discriminatory or prejudiced beliefs that can marginalise women, girls, and students with special education needs. Therefore, widespread behavioural change and communication efforts are required to change attitudes and create a culture that promotes the full and meaningful participation of excluded and marginalised groups such as persons with a disability and women.
5. Implementation of the new secondary education curriculum must ensure that gender and inclusion are given adequate attention, and this must also be the case when developing the new SHS B.Ed. and postgraduate courses in universities.
6. Inadequate physical infrastructure to support gender equality and social inclusion in SHSs, SHTSs and TIs. Infrastructure needs to be expanded across almost all SHSs, SHSs and TIs to ensure gender equality and social inclusion.
Goal:
Ultimately, ensuring GESI responsiveness in SEIs will contribute to a transformational education system where:
- Learners experience a system of teaching that removes barriers such as sexual harassment and gender-based violence to enable quality learning.
- All learners experience differentiated learning that enables them to achieve their fullest potential.
- School levers acquire foundational skills and competencies on how to embrace diversity and equality in preparedness for the world of work, higher education, and adult life.
- Learners, especially girls, unlearn negative stereotypes about women leading to a higher level of assertiveness and capacity to engage on diverse issues.
- Learners, especially boys, unlearn harmful gender norms about men to become more gender-responsive and supportive.