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Gender advocate urges govt to address obstacles to girls’ education in Ghana
Ace broadcast journalist and gender equality advocate, Josephine Oppong-Yeboah, has stressed the need for the government to address all obstacles that impede girls’ education in the country.
She was of the view that although the country had done well in increasing access and enrollment, particularly at the basic and senior high schools, there was a need to ensure girls are retained in schools.
She expressed the concern that even though access and enrollment had increased, factors such as forced marriages, pregnancy, poverty, and sexual harassment oftentimes compel many girls to drop out of school before completing their basic education.
Ms Oppong-Yeboah was speaking on this year’s International Women’s Day with the media, concerning how education for girls in the country could be further enhanced.
The theme for the celebration of this year’s session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is, “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.
The annual UN Commission on the Status of Women meets in March each year to address the widespread inequalities, violence and discrimination women continue to face, all around the world.
Ms Oppong-Yeboah who is attending this year’s event in New York also called for a collaborative approach from all stakeholders towards the promotion of girls’ education in the country.
“We need to find ways of ensuring that girls attend school, stay, and perform well,” she said, adding that “We cannot develop as a nation if we do not address all the obstacles affecting girls’ education in the country.”
She explained that tackling endemic problems affecting girls’ education requires innovative solutions, urging all stakeholders to play their roles as expected in helping to promote girls’ education in the country.
Ms Oppong-Yeboah said although UNESCO’s 2020 Gender Report indicates that girls’ enrollment in school has increased steadily over time, there is still great gender disparity in higher levels of education, especially in subjects related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
She was of the view that access is only the first step towards transforming gender structures in the formal education system in the country, and that “we need to improve retention and performance.”
For her, “there is a huge negative change in gender parity moving from secondary to tertiary enrollment.”
By Benedicta Gyimaah Folley
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
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