C/R: Teachers account for 5.9 per cent teenage pregnancies

Mrs Thywill Eyra Kpe, Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, has expressed worry and described as threatening the trend that suggest that teachers were among the top groups of people who impregnated teenage girls. “This is a bit threatening because we expect that the teachers will be custodians of these children and play the role of the parents during the day. “But if we find these same teachers who are supposed to teach the children to have good morals impregnating them, then its big challenge,” she stated. Mrs Kpe expressed this sentiment in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) following a survey by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) that some 5.9 per cent of primary and secondary school teachers were responsible for all teenage pregnancies in the Central Region in 2016. “The Ghana Education Service has a stronger responsibility to monitor their teachers properly and give them sanctions where it is due to serve as deterrent to other,” She stated. The survey which was done in collaboration with the Department of Gender sought to find out which group of persons were impregnating the girls. The Central Region recorded 12,048 teenage pregnancy cases in 2015 as against 13,355 in 2014 but the GHS said it was still unacceptable. The Region has consistently been named among the top three regions with the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the country. Mrs Kpe explained that the aim of the survey was to identify other stakeholders which could be engaged apart from the girls, parents and the community in the fight against teenage pregnancy in the Region. She said the purpose of the research was not for punishment but for targeting and advocacy but indicated that the Department would engage the GES and together as stakeholders identify how the problem could be handled to prevent future occurrences. Small-scale farmers topped the chart as they were responsible for 986 teenage pregnancies, representing 19.3 per cent followed by drivers who also impregnated 676 of the 12,048 teenage pregnancies. The rest were small scale miners who were responsible for 397, representing 7.8 per cent of those pregnancies, while unemployed men were responsible for 353, which was 6.9 per cent. Source: GNA | Ghana