Guinness launches underage drinking awareness campaign

Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL) has launched a pilot underage drinking awareness campaign for senior high school students dubbed “Hit the books, not the booze.”

The campaign aims at educating 1,000 teenage students on the dangers of alcohol consumption through drama and focus group discussions.

Pilot campaign 

The pilot campaign was launched at the Nungua Senior High School (SHS) where over 800 students from the Nungua SHS, Ebenezer SHS and Sacred Heart Technical Institute attended the programme.  

Through the campaign, students will be educated by clinical psychologists from the University of Ghana Medical School and Dentistry on the effects of alcohol, causes and its consequences when it is abused.

The students would also be educated on how to tackle peer pressure, after which they will sign a pledge board not to drink, and by signing, become advocates of standing up against underage drinking. 

The Corporate Relations Director of GGBL, Mr Gabriel Opoku-Asare, in an address, said the campaign had been designed in accordance with the commitment of the company to fight alcohol abuse among underage youth. 

“We have tailored our drink education programme for SHS students to educate them on the effects of alcohol on the underage,” he said. 

The Headmistress of Nungua Senior High School, Mrs Cecilia Asabea Boateng, thanked GGBL for the initiative and appealed to other corporate institutions to support various co-curricular activities initiated by the school to keep the students engaged and focused on their books. 

The District Counsellor for the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Education Office, Mrs Charity Armarh, encouraged the students to take advantage of the focus group discussions with the clinical psychologists to openly discuss any concerns they might have about alcohol use. 

The pilot campaign will be carried out in two other SHSs in the region.