Pass by-laws to reduce teenage pregnancies – GES Director

Madam Victoria Mahama Aganalie, the Builsa North Municipal Director of the Ghana Education Service, (GES) in the Upper East Region has called on Municipal and District Assemblies to pass by-laws to curtail the increasing numbers of teenage pregnancies in their areas.

She said although stakeholders including Non-Governmental Organizations had over the years put measures in place to remedy the worrying trend of teenage pregnancies across the region, much needed to be done on the part of the Assemblies.

Madam Aganalie made the call during stakeholders’ engagement discussion at Bolgatanga on the roll-out of nutrition intervention for school children among other issues affecting education in the Region.

The Municipal Director suggested that “If our Assembly members could pass a by-law at their level to prevent our school children, especially the girls from attending funerals at night.”

Madam Aganalie’s suggestion came against the backdrop of concerns expressed by the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi about the issue of teenage pregnancies in the Region.

She said funerals were usually characterised by music from sound systems both day and night, and were mainly patronised by school boys and girls, which creates an opportunity for them to indulge in sexual immorality.

She said if Assembly members could pass and facilitate proper implementation of such a laws across all the electoral areas in the Region, it would help minimise teenage pregnancies.

Madam Aganalie said strict implementation of such laws would not only reduce the menace, but would compel girls to stay home and spend time on their studies.

Dr Dzotsi advised parents to provide their children with their basic needs, “and ensure they don’t go where they are not supposed to be, and also encourage them to remain in school, study and pass their exams to become responsible citizens in society.”

Source: GNA