The National Director of the Girls Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ms Benedicta Seidu, has urged parents to encourage their teenage girls who become pregnant to return to school after delivery in order to further their studies.
According to her, the GES had rolled out a comprehensive policy to create an enabling environment for the teenage mothers to fulfill their ambitions so that they can contribute their quota to national development.
Ms. Seidu said this at a training on the guidelines for prevention of pregnancy and support for Re-entry in the Northern Region.
The workshop was organized by the Northern Regional education directorate, in collaboration with the Girls education unit of the GES.
The participants included personnel from the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Media, Human Rights Institutions and Civil Society Groups, among others.
Madam Benedicta Seidu said in spite the efforts being made by the educational authorities to bring the girls back to school, there were still some left behind, and thus urged parents and other stakeholders to play their respective roles to ensure those students returned to the classroom.
A programme Officer at the Girls’ Education unit of the GES, Ms Juliana Awuni, in her presentation, explained that the GES position on pregnancy among school children had always been abstinence, hence the need for schools in area to implement strategies to prevent pregnancy in schools.
She took participants through guidelines for prevention of pregnancies in schools and support for Re-entry, unsafe school practices, elements of safe school environment, measures to promote a safe school environment and stakeholders’ role to make school safe.
Earlier, in his welcoming address, the Northern Regional Director of Ghana Education Service, Dr. Peter Aterfuah called on the participants to play their part to improving girl-child education in the Region.
