The high rate of teenage
pregnancy, especially in basic schools, is curtailing the education of many
girls in the country. The Ghana Health Service indicated in a news
report that 57,000 teenage pregnancies were recorded nationwide
in the first half of 2017 alone. Many girls drop out of school because they get
pregnant, a situation that continues to plague the Ghanaian educational system.
These girls, some as young as 13 years get pregnant and consequently drop out
of school, never to return because of the ridicule and embarrassment associated
with having to sit with their peers in the classroom. It is sad to think that
with a life expectancy of 64
years for Ghanaian women, these girls will most likely live
for the next 45 years with no education and or no employable skills to fend for
themselves let alone contribute to the development of the country.
Savana Signatures, a
Non-Governmental Organization working to improve quality education in Ghana,
has collected the stories of girls in the Ho and Hohoe Municipalities of the
Volta region who got pregnant, dropped out of school and returned after giving
birth. This provides an insight into the teenage pregnancy menace and the
factors motivating teen mothers to go
back to school and also provide the basis for an advocacy to encourage more
girls in similar situations to continue their education regardless.
Dzifa (not her real
name) is now 19 years old and is in JHS two. Her story started two years ago
when she was 17 years old. Dzifa got pregnant after engaging in unprotected
sexual intercourse with a boyfriend she had at the time. She was initially
reluctant to go back to school after giving birth but upon the insistence of her
mother Dzifa is finally back in school and learning to hopefully have a better
life in future. According to her she was at the time not aware that having
unprotected sex could lead to pregnancy, a situation that nearly derailed her
education and aspirations. She is now learning a lot in the Comprehensive
Sexuality Education (CSE) lessons being taught at her school, knowledge she
admits would have been even more useful if she had had it sooner. “In my former
school if they were teaching us sexual education like I will not be pregnant, I
would have used protection”.
Sixteen year old
Emefa (not her real name), on the other hand, got pregnant at the age of 15,
after having sexual intercourse with her boyfriend. They used protection but
the condom broke during intercourse, resulting in her having an unplanned
pregnancy. Similar to Dzifa’s story, Emefa’s mother played a pivotal role in
sending her back to school. Emefa’s mother was of the opinion that she was too
young to go and live with her young boyfriend and his family like is done in
most cases. Adding that her education will be curtailed if she goes to live
with the boy’s parents who had agreed to take care of Emefa and her unborn
child. She continued her education even while she was pregnant. She eventually delivered
and successfully and went back to school and wrote her Basic Education
Certificate Examination. Emefa hopes to further her education at the Senior
High School to study Home Economics and go on to become a teacher in the
subject. Emefa encouraged girls in similar situations to go back to school and
advised parents saying, “When your child gets pregnant don’t sack them to go to
the boy, let them stay with you so you can take good care of them and let them
go back to school”.
Considering that teachers
are not trained at the Colleges of Education to facilitate healthy discussions
of sexuality issues with young people in schools, they shy away from responding
to SRHR issues of young people as they lack the knowledge, skills and attitude
to facilitate safe discussions on sexuality issues. Those who try end up being judgemental. Through
the World Starts With Me and the My World and My Life Programmes implemented by
Savana Signatures, CSE lessons are facilitated weekly for young people in the
project schools. The age-appropriate CSE curricula, “My World and My Life” for
primary and “World Starts With Me” for JHS are used to facilitate the teaching
of CSE to ensure young people make informed decisions about their sexual and
reproductive health. Weekly lessons are organized for a club of 50 students in
each of the project schools with equal opportunities provided for boys and
girls to participate.
Majority of young
people are enrolled in school therefore making the school a critical and
appropriate platform to reach them with CSE, to ensure they make informed decisions
about their sexual and reproductive health. This will ensure they are in school
long enough to benefit from quality education.
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