Stakeholders call for responsible parenting to curb teenage pregnancy at Akrofuom

Participants at a one-day symposium in Akrofuom District in the Ashanti Region have called on parents to take up the responsibility of parenting seriously if teenage pregnancy can be reduced in the district.

They said this after the guest speaker echoed the importance of parenting as the first avenue for children to be imparted with values and knowledge that are crucial to the fight against teenage pregnancy and drug abuse in the district.

Most speakers lamented the spate at which most parents have reneged on their responsibilities and have laid all their shortfalls in parenting at the doorsteps of other institutions to train their children for them.

The symposium, organised by the Akrofuom Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), brought together all the stakeholders in the district who have an interest in the subject matter.

Addressing the participants, the District Director for NCCE, Mr. Ali Kassim, stated that in the discharge of their duties, they realized that the cases of teenage pregnancy and drug abuse were in the ascendancy in the district.

This was confirmed by a report issued about three years ago, which revealed the Akrofuom District at the top of the list of teenage pregnancy cases in the country.

He added that though the directorate has liaised with other institutions in the past to address the menace, it was imperative that new strategies were devised and used to eradicate the menace or bring it to the barest minimum since it continues to be a critical issue in the district.

Participants also attributed the high rate of teenage pregnancy and drug abuse to peer pressure, social media, a lack of enforcement of laws, and the introduction of foreign culture through telenovelas.

The chairman of the occasion, Samuel Yaw Obubah, commended the directorate for a successful program and urged that the participants spread the message so that the canker in the district will be reduced to the barest minimum.