Examining Girls’ Experiences of Discriminatory Practices in Ghanaian Secondary Education against International Human Rights Standards

Discriminatory practices abuses in schools are rarely viewed through the human rights perspective as this dimension is relatively new. The absence of systematically collected data further perpetuates the abuses (Tomaševski, 2001:43). The research examines how Ghana has complied with the human rights’ standards of non-discrimination in education at the Senior High school level especially concerning girls. Using phenomenological and quasi-ethnographical approaches, opportunity and purposive sampling, questionnaires and interviews, it investigates how non-compliance affects access, viewed not only in terms of gender parity which critical feminists argue is too narrow to measure the desired international improvements sought (Chisamya 2012:753; Subramanian, 2005:401), but the psychological aspects of access which are impeded where there are psychological, social and cognitive barriers to education. The research elicited the voice of female and male students, teachers, traditional and religious leaders, whose feedback established discrimination in leadership roles, the imposition of higher moral benchmarking, surveillance, exclusion in voice and participation, and rights’ violations involving various forms of violence, exploitative sexual relationships, as well as toxic masculinities which affect girls’ rights within education. The originality of the research lies in the multidisciplinary approach in bridging the gap between gender, education and human rights law to advance a wider conceptual awareness of access to education. Recommendations are three-fold. The first, a systems-wide engagement, focuses on engagement with a wide range of community stakeholders and school boards on concepts including gender stereotypes, types of discrimination, violence, and identifies positive entry points. The second, national level intervention addresses teacher training reforms, enforcement of policies on pregnancy and corporal punishment, policies to strengthen the role of the School Counsellor, ensuring student handbooks book have information on contemporary gendered manifestations of discrimination, and the adoption of temporary special measures. With school level interventions rotational models are recommended to give girls equal access to leadership positions, and to correct discriminatory protectionist practices, ensuring girls’ rights to, within and through education.