Teenage pregnancies on the rise in Kassena-Nankana Municipal

Mr Edward Azure, Kassena-Nankana Municipal Director of Education has described as alarming the rate of teenage pregnancies in the Kassena-Nankana area among Junior High School girls.

According to him, records from the just ended Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) revealed that most girls wrote the examination with pregnancies while others did not turn up to sit for the exams due to same reasons.

Mr Azure disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Navrongo in the Upper East Region and said the issue was worrying.

He said at the recent Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), about 16 girls registered for the exams but could not write the examination due to pregnancies, while 13 girls wrote the papers carrying pregnancies.

He indicated that the rising cause of the social vice could be traced to irresponsible parenting, broken homes and social media.

He mentioned other causes as negative socio-cultural practices, poverty and night jams at funeral grounds patronized by these girls.

Mr Azure stressed that children, especially the girl-child were assets to society and said society should allow them to develop fully, pointing out that women were a driving force for community development and that there was the need to allow them grow and play that role.

He called on parents to assume their parental roles fully and protect the future of the young women in the area.

Madam Mary Rose Abacheli, Girl-Child Education Officer at the Education Directorate mentioned that the directorate runs educative programmes to educate the girls on the need to stay safe and pursue their educational dreams.

Madam Abacheli said her office has formed girls clubs in all the Junior High Schools in the area which allowed role models to meet the girls from time to time to sensitize them on issues such as teenage pregnancies.

She hinted that her department was partnering with an organization such as Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) to groom girls to be responsible women and leaders in future.

Madam Abacheli urged parents to provide adequately for the girl-child, especially the adolescent ones, monitor and supervise their movement in order to prevent them from falling into traps that would ruin their lives.