A plan to keep rural pupils in school beyond JHS

The initiative is called Beyond JHS. In many communities across the Upper East Region of Ghana, Abigail Awinemaaleya Akaditi says, children face significant barriers to continuing their education past Junior High School. Girls are often exposed to early marriage, teenage pregnancy and exploitation by older men, while many boys leave school in pursuit of quick income. "Without intervention, many young people remain trapped in cycles of poverty and limited opportunities," she says.

Her proposal is the Rising Futures Foundation, a community-based support system that would keep young people in school, develop leadership skills, provide mentorship and equip them with practical knowledge for future careers and entrepreneurship. It would target vulnerable youth aged 12 to 20 in rural communities of the region.

“Every Child in School. Every Youth with a Future.”

Abigail Awinemaaleya Akaditi

The plan has four parts. School retention and scholarship support would cover educational materials, academic mentoring, career guidance sessions and help with the transition to Senior High School, for 100 students a year. A Girls Rising Program would run leadership workshops, menstrual health education, confidence-building training and mentorship by female role models for 50 girls a year. A Boys for Change Program would offer 50 boys a year financial literacy training, agribusiness and entrepreneurship exposure, digital literacy workshops and positive masculinity mentorship. The fourth part is community advocacy and parent engagement: community forums, parent education sessions, education advocacy campaigns and engagement with chiefs, opinion leaders and religious leaders, across 10 communities a year.

Her first-year targets are 100 vulnerable youth supported and an 80% school retention rate among them.

She studies at the University of Education, Winneba. Her theory of change runs to one sentence.