Teenage Pregnancy In Ghana; Schools Becoming Cause Rather Than Panacea

I was not surprised when I read on citifmonline on Monday 27th February, 2017 of 977 teenage girls who risk loosing or suffering a break in their education at a very constructive stage of their lives to prepare prematurely for the Daedalus nature of motherhood.

I was however despondent and depressed as the news only meant that recent successes chalked up in the area of teenage pregnancy prevention could not be sustained giving rise to this national tragedy.

The rate of teenage pregnancy in the central region where the article focused on has in the last 5 years seen a decline even though the Ghana health services puts the figure in 2016 at 12,048 which is still unacceptably high.

A survey of 5,000 of the pregnant teenagers revealed that small-scale farmers, drivers and Teachers were among the groups of people who impregnated teenage girls in the year under review.

In 2015 alone 10,000 teenage pregnancies where recorded by the Ghana health service. A figure which is very agonizing to say the least and continuous to climb steadily nationally despite the efforts put in by non-governmental, governments and several activist groups to arrest the situation.

In a developing country like ours where authorities are still struggling to create more opportunities for women and make up in some way for the historical discrimination and segregation against women through instruments that seek to provide some equal level playing field for women in relation to their male counterparts thus Affirmative action, this news only comes as dire straits to the innumerable activist working to improve the condition of women and for that matter girls the world over.

The Ghana health service statistics points out to Accra, Kumasi, Techiman, Secondi Takoradi and the central region as places where the menace is prevalent, it is instructive to note also that it is prevalent in the northern parts of Ghana directly as a consequence of early child Marriages.

The issue is, following the increased sensitization and education by different organizations of the dangers associated with teenage pregnancy, the laws and Regulations promulgated to build a concrete fence around young ladies to keep them in school as long as possible, the several conventions ratified by our country as well as the several social interventions rolled out by the government to encourage increased girl child enrollment and education by reducing the burden on parents, child/teenage pregnancy is still on the ascendancy.

I suppose the thinking of several governments and indeed most of the discerning public and organisations concerned is that the school is the safest place for our young girls to develop and realise their full potential. That clearly has proven to be a fallacy as teachers now almost comfortably occupy the top position in the ranking of individuals/groups who toy with the lives and future of our young girls.

This raises a serious question of Teacher supervision and its forms as adopted by our educational system, teacher student relationships and how much research and attention has been given to it's development and perhaps most importantly the role of the Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) and how effective and involved these associations still are.

The role of regulators of our educational system in preventing some of these dispeachable attitudes and ensuring that teachers are the role models they need to be in order to properly inspire our children and young ones has to also come under the red-light.

The main role of the PTA is to build strong working relationships among parents, teachers and school in the best interest of students and in support of students. Given the alarming statistics on teenage pregnancy in recent times I am yet to hear the PTA's of this country being a major stakeholder in the issue make a compelling case and take a strong stand against it. I am yet to see the PTA being proactive and pushing for some major reforms in the sector that will protect their own children and future generations.

The truth is that most of these associations are not functioning in several schools across the country while others are very weak and not well organised. This should be one of the major focuses of the new government particularly the new education minister. Working to encourage these associations and strengthening them if not for anything could serve as scare crows to increase tipping point and make the cost of such irresponsible behavior by teachers and players in the educational sector towards girls more than it's benefit by keeping close taps and contributing to effective monitoring.

I make a clarion call to PTA's throughout the country to rise above the simplistic description of them as a fund raising group and to work assiduously to ensure that the rights and strategic needs of our girls and indeed all students is jealousy guarded.

Moving forward I encourage more action than talk. The certainty of punishment according to criminologist has proven to be a great detterrant, law enforcement agencies should therefore master courage and defy all influences and biases by paying more attention to certainty of punishment.

More examples should be made of people who engage in the act and deterrence will be served.

There is an increasing need also to roll out a plan to get parents and community members actively involved in the process of prevention by empowering them with the needed information and resources to effectively monitor and guide their young girls.

I suggest also considering empowering these young girls to detect and properly interpret suspicious attitudes and behaviours of not just teachers but any adult, empower them to say NO and empower them to report without fear, any such incidents or potential incidence.

Empowerment has proven to be a great tool in equipping women and girls to stand up to their practical needs and should be adopted with open arms.

Empowering girls will empower the country and can double it's present power in the future.

Salifu Mba Mustapha
National coordinator Ghana
Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network
[email protected]