Two teenage girls in Brong Ahafo rescued from early marriage

Two teenage girls, whose parents and family forcibly pushed them into marriage, have been rescued by the Girl-Child Education Unit of the GES in collaboration with the Police in the Brong Ahafo region.

One of the girls was rescued in the Banda District while the other one was saved at Yamfo in the Tano North district. The two girls have now been put back to school.

At a media briefing in Sunyani to mark this year’s International Day of the Girl-Child, the Brong Ahafo Regional Girl-Child Co-ordinator, Beatrice Mamle Nkum expressed grave concern about the high incidence of child-marriage in the area.

She said the situation is more prevalent in Muslim communities, adding that “once an adolescent girl is married; it is very rare that she would remain in school.”

“Though the criminal code amendment (Act 554) prohibits compulsion in marriage the act is still being secretly practiced in areas especially like Tain, Banda, Atebubu, Wenchi, and Kintampo Municipal”, she further said.

Another issue, she stated, which threatens the progress of education among girls in the region is teenage pregnancy, especially among Primary and Junior High School pupils.

“In the Brong Ahafo Region, girls constitute the majority of the children out of school due to teenage pregnancy, child-marriage, parental neglect, poverty, unfriendly school environment, cultural misconception among others”, Madam Mamle Nkum explained.

According to her, most these girls do not complete primary school or JHS, saying; “the completion rate for girls in basic school for the year 2017/2018 stands at 46.8%.”

The Regional Girl-Child Co-ordinator said 90 female final year JHS students could not write their BECE in 2016/2017 academic year in the region as a result of teenage pregnancies while in the 2017/2018 academic year, the number recorded was 74.

She said records show that 138 teenage pregnancies were recorded among BECE candidates in 17 districts in the region during the 2017/208 academic year.

As part of measures to bring the situation under control, Madam Mamle Nkum said the Girls’ Education Unit in the Brong Ahafo region has been carrying out a number of activities to promote the development of the girl-child.

Among them, she said, are radio discussion programmes, community-based sensitization forums, camp meetings, enforcing the pregnancy and re-entry guidelines as well as outreach programmes against teenage pregnancies.

She added that her outfit has also been collaborating with about 71 Non-Governmental Organizations, most of which are involved in Girls’ education; to deepen awareness about the dangers associated teenage pregnancies, early/forces marriage and all other practices that impede the development of the girl-child.

Besides, she said, “the Unit decided to create a network called G.E.N (Girls’ Education Network) at both the national and the regional levels to bring all partners and collaborators together to operate on a common platform to ensure effective and efficient realization of the country’s vision on the education of these girls.”

For his part, Raphael Ahenu, the CEO of the Global Media Foundation, blamed the high incidence of teenage pregnancy in the Brong Ahafo region to the lack of access to contraceptives and the low level of sex education.

He therefore called for a holistic approach to deal with the issue, saying “one of the key impediments on our way is the lack of commitment by relevant stakeholder, especially government to deal with the issue.”