Cultural Practices and Exclusion of Girls from Education

This book explores the Trokosi cultural practice in south-eastern Ghana and its consequence on girls education from the perspectives of inclusion and exclusion. The Trokosi is a traditional cultural practice in which a virgin girl is sacrificed to a shrine to atone for an offence committed by a family or a relative; meaning the girl is not the offender. The minority of the Trokosi girls who are redeemed from the shrine after payment of ransom by their parents are partially included in modern education. As a traditional system, the Trokosi is immersed in fear. The book also highlights the Trokosi system based on strong traditional belief and due to its efficacy the proponents of the system uphold it and socialize the Trokosi girls into accepting it; thereby accepting their destiny. The traditionalists believe any move to abolish the system implies destroying their customs. The Ghana government, representing modernity is based on scientific principle of rationality, banned the practice by law but finds it difficult to implement the law. Thus both the Trokosi girls and the government are caught in between tradition and modernity as regards inclusion and exclusion in modern education. This implies that as long as the government remains in dilemma the Trokosi girls would be excluded from modern education or few would be partially included.