I Want to Go to School, but I Can't: a Study of Factors That Impact Girls' Formal Education in Ghana

This study explores factors that impact a girl child?s formal educational outcomes in developing countries particularly, Ghana. Although educational research indicates that there are variables that limit a girl?s access to formal education, educational reforms are not consistent in providing remedy to gender inequities in education across the world. In essence, this research inquiry contributes to literature on the subject by examining factors impacting the girl child?s formal educational outcomes in Ghana. Within the socio-cultural space, the socialization process of the girl child is significant in understanding uncodified policies within the home, community, and school that places the girl child in the role of subordination to males. The indifference of male teachers and school administrators in positions of power, behaviors towards girls in schools, and the local patriarchal sociopolitical structures are major issues identified in the study. The mosaic of voices used in this study provides the data needed to draw a larger picture that explains why girls in this study say, ?Medibe mayi sukuu gake, ?ui o? [I want to go to school, but I can?t].