Schoolgirls have been banned from crossing a river in the
country while they are menstruating and on Tuesdays in order not to provoke the
gods.
The ban, apparently given by a local river god, has outraged
children’s activists, especially as girls must cross the river to reach school.
It means girls in the Upper Denkyira East district, in the Central Region,
could miss out on their education.
Already, Sub-Saharan Africa is already struggling to keep
girls in school during their periods, according to reports.
The UN’s scientific and education organisation, Unesco,
estimates one in 10 girls in the region does not attend school because they are
menstruating, while a World Bank report notes that 11.5m Ghanaian women lack
the appropriate hygiene and sanitation management facilities needed.
Unicef’s menstrual hygiene ambassador Shamima Muslim
Alhassan told BBC Pidgin that the directive, which applies to part of the River
Ofin, violated girls’ right to education.
“It seems the gods are really powerful aren’t they?” she
said.
“Sometimes I think that we need to ask for some form of
accountability from these gods who continue to bar a lot of things from
happening, to account for how they have used the tremendous power that we have
given them.”
The River Ofin serves as a boundary between the Ashanti and
Central Region.
