The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bolgatanga East in the Upper East Region, David Amoah, has bemoaned the rate at which education of teenage girls is being truncated due to teenage pregnancy.
According to the DCE, despite the worrying phenomenon of children engaging in illegal mining popularly called galamsey, which makes them drop out of school, teenage pregnancy has also been another cause of the increasing rate of school dropouts in the area.
The DCE, speaking on the sidelines of a donation of 400 school desks to some basic schools in the area, told Class 91.3 FM’s Upper East Regional Correspondent Moses Apiah that the situation needs urgent attention.
He noted that despite the numerous attempts by the Assembly to curb the menace, children below age 16 are still affected.
“There are two difficult evils that [are] eating up the education of our children and one evil is the galamsey.
“The other evil is against the girl child seriously… Teenage pregnancy,” he said.
He indicated that: “Even though we want children to be in school, we don’t want [children who are] mothers to be in school.”
He therefore called on residents of the district, parents, teachers, guardians and all stakeholders to take proper care of the girl child in order to keep them in school, away from early marriages and teenage pregnancy.
“So we appeal that let’s take good care of them [children], talk to them so that they don’t get pregnant early and complete the[ir] education successfully, they don’t get married early so they complete the education successfully.
“So please let’s accept that education is number one and we need education to go on,” the District Chief Executive stated.
