Over 2,500 JSS girls drop out due to pregnancy

A total of 2,571 Junior Secondary School (JSS) girls in the Ho District became pregnant and dropped out of school between 1999 and July, this year.

Figures collated by the District School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Department and released to the media indicate that 25 girls aged between 10 years and 14 years were made pregnant and 859 of those between 15 years and 19 years found themselves in the same situation and dropped out of school in 1999.

In 2000 the figure for those between 10 years and 14 years went up to 74, while that of those between 15 years to 19 years rose to 1,038.

Figures for January to July this year showed that 11 students between 10 years and 14 years and 564 between 15 years and 19 years had dropped out of school because they became pregnant.

Miss Sitsofe Amegboe, Ho District SHEP Co-ordinator, said that most of the pregnancies occurred in outlying towns and villages.

She said pregnancy among JSS students was particularly common in towns along the Ghana-Togo border.

Miss Amegboe attributed peer group influence, broken homes, inability of parents to meet the needs of their daughters, watching of pornographic films at video centres and the behaviour of parents as some of the causes of the rising incidence of pregnancy among JSS students.