Schoolgirls in Ghana

A girl using bottle tops to count in a maths lesson at Brepaw Kpeti primary school Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Abigail Appetey is 12 years old. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays she is forced to miss her classes at primary school to sell fried fish door-to-door in Apimsu, her farming village in eastern Ghana. She gets up at 5am to buy the fish three miles away Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk An eight-year-old pupil at Brepaw Kpeti primary school Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Gifty Ansah, 15, pictured with her mother Cecilia, has just finished her morning chores before school. Cecilia, a farmer and single mother, knows the value of school. 'Farming is too difficult,' she says, to offer Gifty much in life. 'There is no work to do unless you are educated.' Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Gifty Ansah (centre) and teammates playing in a football tournament Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Gifty Ansah, 15; Alberta Normenyo, 15; Margaret Ampomah, 16; Deborah Martey, 14; and Abigail-Mary Hitresi, 13, relaxing after a tough game Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Gifty in a class at Brepaw Kpeti junior high Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Headteacher Albert Amjomoah-Wayo, of Ampisu primary, with his class Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Jessica Shepherd interviewing the headmaster of Ampisa primary school, Albert Amjomoah-Wayo Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk 'Kings' and 'queens' – highly respected elders who have been selected to preside over villages and keep their traditions going. Pictured here are those of the Apimsu community Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Teenagers Rhiannon Kruse-Edwards (left) and Ronan Mckenzie enjoying a talk put on by Gifty Ansah and her friends. Rhiannon and Ronan, from Walthamstow school for girls in East London, won an award for global education campaigning and travelled to Ghana accompanied by the international children's charity Plan, and Education Guardian Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Rhiannon and Ronan with the pupils of Ampisa primary school Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Teaching malaria prevention at Ampuso primary Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk Eight-year-old Tomatey Theresa Dede in breaktime at Brepaw Kpeti primary Photograph: Mark Pengelly Photograph: guardian.co.uk