By Benjamin Akoto
Sunyani, Aug. 16, GNA – Ms Esther Boateng Awuah, the Plan Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) Facility Head and Project Coordinator, Sunyani, has suggested the adoption of ‘Age appropriate sexual and reproductive health’ education among teenagers to address teenage pregnancy incidents.
She explained providing appropriate sexual education at every stage of a child’s development process was crucial, saying giving specific sexual information would enable them to make informed decisions and understand the consequences of getting pregnant as a teenager.
Ms Awuah, also a midwife, gave the suggestion in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani on possible measures stakeholders could adopt to prevent teenage pregnancy,
especially in the light of the incidents of pregnancies and adolescent mothers recorded during the Basic Education Certificate Examination.
She stated the lack of adequate information about sexual and reproductive health had been a major factor contributing to teenage pregnancy, saying parents often denied their children basic sexual education, leaving them to rely on their peers for information when they were in distress situation, which led to misinformation and poor decision-making.
Ms Awuah observed though sexual and reproductive health components were included in the school syllabus, they were not enough, while the teaching hours allocated to the topics too were inadequate to adequately prepare students against teenage pregnancies.
She, therefore, proposed the education system must allow for other key stakeholders to provide sexual education to students occasionally, saying that would help to ensure children had access to quality information about sexual and reproductive health.
”The children already know about sex, but how well are they informed about it, and do they even have the quality of information about sex education?”Ms Awuah quizzed.
She emphasised the importance of parents and guardians providing adequate information on sexual and reproductive health to their children, indicating this would help them to make the right decisions early in life and reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancies.
Ms Awuah acknowledged the effects of those measures might not be immediate, but with the right education at the right time, teenagers could make informed decisions to reduce the risk of teenage pregnancies.
GNA