Twelve teachers from 10 schools in the Greater Accra Region have been trained as gender advocates to help fight Gender-Based Violence (GBV) within their schools.

This training formed part of the “Young voices matter: empowering boys and girls in the fight against GBV” project, led by Regina Asamoah, an International Visitor Leadership Pro­gramme (IVLP) Impact Awardee.

It covered essential aspects of GBV, including understanding its dynamics, recognising psychological impacts, leveraging technology for interven­tion, and employing age-appropriate communication strategies.

Speaking at the event, ACP (Rtd.) Dr. Patience Quaye, a U.S. Embassy Ghana GBV Champion and Fellow of Missing Children Ghana, said gender-based vi­olence was a crime against humanity, hence the need to educate learners, support survivors, and ensure that per­petrators face justice.

She also addressed the potential for teachers to be perpetrators and highlighted the importance for school to have policies and procedures for re­porting and addressing such incidents.

A Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS), Dr Dzifa Abrah Attah, guided the teachers in identify­ing psychological traits in learners that may indicate they are experiencing GBV and taught them how to provide emotional and psychological support.

Dr Attah encouraged teachers to familiarise themselves with their school’s mental health resources, con­sider referrals, follow up on them, and provide academic accommodations during students’ recovery.

Prof. Samuel Kojo Kwofie, Head of the Biomedical Engineering Depart­ment at the University of Ghana, edu­cated teachers on the use of technol­ogy to address Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

Prof. Kwofie said there were Tech­nology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV), which includes cyber stalking, cyberbullying, doxxing (searching for and publishing private or identifying information about a particular individual on the internet, typically with malicious intent), cyber mob attacks, image-based abuse, on­line impersonation, sextortion (a form of online blackmail where the typical­ly unknown offender creates a fake online profile and tricks or coerces the victim into sending sexual images of themselves), online harassment, revenge porn.

TFGBV is a kind of digital violence committed and amplified through the use of information and communica­tions, technologies or digital spaces against a person based on gender.

“Many of our students may be ex­periencing TFGBV, and we need to be vigilant, especially given that almost every student has a phone and spends a significant amount of time online,” he said.

Prof. Kwofie advocated the develop­ment of locally relevant apps tailored to address the specific manifestations of GBV in schools.

 By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu