Joycelyn Tetteh
Member of Parliament (MP) for North Dayi in the Volta Region, Jocelyn Tetteh, has expressed concern about the increasing spate of teenage pregnancy in the country.
Making a statement on the floor of parliament last Thursday, Ms Tetteh observed that teenage pregnancies, coupled with the high rate of youth unemployment, is likely to culminate in a crisis that could threaten social stability.
As a result, the lawmaker appealed to parents and teachers to educate their children and students respectively about the use of condoms.
“Mr Speaker, sex education in our basic schools must be prioritised and taught. Parents must know and ought to be interested in the extracurricular activities of their children, especially the teenage ones,” she said.
Parents in Ghana to a large extent, shy away from discussing sexual issues with their children, as sex among teenagers is considered somewhat forbidden.
But Jocelyn Tetteh insists that parents and teachers must engage children in safe sex education and encourage the teenagers to “put the condoms on.”
She stressed, “We must begin as a country to teach safe sex practices amongst the youth instead of assuming that our children are ignorant of sex as an act and sexuality as a topic.“
According to the MP, the approach to solving this problem must acknowledge the role of parents, teachers, community leaders, chiefs, queen mothers, religious leaders, as well as politicians.”
Condom use, according to her, must be mentioned while preaching the abstinence.
Furthermore, Ms Jocelyn Tetteh explained that the effort required to address the menace of teenage pregnancy can only be effective if it is multi-faceted.
No Condemnation
Ms Tetteh called for a concerted effort to address the factors that lead to teenage pregnancy rather than condemning the girls who get pregnant while in school.
“Mr speaker, many factors account for teenage pregnancy; adolescent exuberance, exploitation of sexuality of the teenager, lack of parental control or parental guidance, drug abuse, peer pressure, absence of sex education or in worse, lack of it,” etc.
In her view, “The pregnant teenager is not the problem; the problem is the factors that lead to the pregnancy.
“That is why we must focus our energies on addressing those factors rather than isolating pregnant teenagers for condemnation,” she charged.
Commenting on the negative consequences, she underscored, “In Ghana, teenage pregnancy is a major cause of maternal mortality, as the bodies of most teenage girls are not well developed and mature to accommodate a baby.”
“Teenage pregnancy also results in most affected girls dropping out of school, becoming unskilled and unfit for the labour market, even as they prepare to become mothers.
According to her, “This double jeopardy of being an unskilled teenager with a responsibility of taking care of the young is what demands that some immediate, relevant, national policy is crafted to halt the worrying trend of teenage pregnancy in North Dayi and beyond.
“Ghana has over 60% of its population below 35 years. This feature of the population should be ordinarily an asset for Ghana but unfortunately, the huge unemployment situation amongst the youth has made the statistics a curse rather than a blessing,” she emphasized.
“If our young teenage girls find themselves getting pregnant in addition to their unemployed state, the social problem created culminates into a crisis, with the potential to threaten social cohesion and stability of the state,” the MP pointed out.
Integration
Meanwhile, the lawmaker has also called for the integration of pregnant teenage girls into schools nationwide.
“Every effort to get girls back to school after delivery is as important as the effort made at preventing the pregnancy in the first place,” Ms Jocelyn Tetteh stressed.
BY Melvin Tarlue