About 7,293 teenage pregnancies recorded in basic schools in 2018/2019

Mrs Benedicta Seidu, National Director of Girls Education Unit (GEU) at the Ghana Education Service (GES) said the country recorded a total of 7,293 teenage pregnancies in basic and second cycle schools in the 2018-2019 academic years across the country.

She said the Upper Primary recorded 1,024, Junior High School (JHS) 4,836 and Senior High School (SHS) 1,433.

Mrs Seidu made the disclosure at the third CAMFED Aluminae Association (CAMA) National Annual General Meeting opened in Tamale, to review activities undertaken by CAMA in the year and also discussed and solicited ideas to develop strategic plans for the coming years.

The meeting was on the theme: “Positioning CAMA for the Next Five Years: Focus on Enterprise Development and Leadership for Nation Building”.

She said a total of 3,199 victims, comprising 180 Upper Primary, 2,326 JHS and 693 SHS victims were re-enrolled into school after birth.

Mrs Seidu therefore called on heads of schools to give support to such victims to enable them them to fulfill their ambitions and desist from driving them out of school.

Madam Rashidatu Iddrisah, Programmes Manager at CAMFED Ghana, said in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation, her outfit was set to implement a five-year Young Africa Works (YAW) strategy programme aimed at reducing unemployment among young people in the country.

She said the YAW strategy programme would begin by the end of October 2019, and targets about three million young people in Ghana, especially women.

Madam Iddrisah said the programme was part of efforts to provide dignified employment to young people to improve on their livelihoods, and bring economic growth in the country.

She indicated that the YAW strategy had six components, Learner Guide programme and bursaries, Transition programme, Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) programme, Business start-up programme, Business growth programme and Co-operatives/rural sales networks, which are geared towards equipping young women with soft skills training as means of employment opportunities for nation building.

Madam Ruka Yaro De-Liman, National Chairperson of CAMA told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines that teenage pregnancies and child marriages were prevalent in the country, and said the practice hindered sustainable growth among victims, adding that the YAW strategy programme would help to inculcate confidence in the beneficiaries.

She appealed to members of the public who forcefully gave out their girls for marriage to desist from the act, saying it was an abuse on their human rights.

Mrs Mawusi Nudekor Awity, Executive Director of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), encouraged young people to adopt innovative skills in doing business and said it would reduce competition and increase earnings.