‘Be patient with teenagers who become pregnant’
The Brong Ahafo Regional Girl-Child Education Coordinator (GCEC) of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mrs Beatrice Nkum, has advised parents whose daughters become pregnant before completing their basic education to treat them with patience and kindness to enable them to further their education after delivery.
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“Some of these girls are very clever and they can continue their education if their parents take care of their babies”, she said, and added that when parents became so harsh on such girls, some ran away from their homes and resorted to unsafe abortions.
Mrs Nkum gave the advice in an interview with the Daily Graphic after a three-day workshop organised by the Department for International Development (DFID) for 108 School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinators, Girl Child Education, Special Education and Guidance and Counselling coordinators from all the 27 districts in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Adolescent reproductive health
The programme, which was on the theme: “Capacity building in adolescent reproductive health", focused particularly on factors influencing adolescent growth, development, challenges and its management.
Mrs Nkum said, “When your girl-child accidentally gets pregnant while in school, do not sack her from your home but rather, give her the necessary support and take care of her child so that she can continue her education”.
In addition, she said, some parents as a result of frustration, pain and disappointment vented their anger on the pregnant girl and sacked her from the home.
She noted that the Brong Ahafo Region recorded 127 pregnancy cases during the 2014 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and that the teenage pregnancies in the region were affecting the region’s performance in the BECE exams.
She added that currently, the Brong Ahafo Region was ranked second after the Central Region in teenage pregnancies in the country and stressed that the trend needed to be curbed.
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Causes of teenage pregnancy
Mrs Nkum, attributed some of the causes of teenage pregnancy in the region to parental neglect, poverty, lack of education on adolescent sexuality, and influence from peers and the media.
She cautioned teachers to not use pregnancy as an excuse to sack pregnant girls from their classes or schools, saying, “It is wrong to sack a pregnant student from your class unless she has health complications”.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Coordinator of SHEP, Mr Anthony Nimako, said most of the girls who got pregnant while in school dropped out as a result of lack of support from their parents to continue their education.
“Just imagine a pregnant girl writing her examination without receiving any support from the parents; it will even affect her performance”, he stated.
Mr Nimako, therefore, advised parents to be supportive of their pregnant girls particularly when they are writing their final examination, to enable them to have a sound mind to pass their examination.
The Dormaa East SHEP Coordinator, Mrs Rosina Nyarko, commended the participants for their comportment during the workshop and said the lessons learnt would help them in their work.