The African Education Watch (AEW), a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) has appealed to the Government to enact flexible policy that will make re-entry of school girls, who would wish to continue schooling after delivery, easy.
This, it said would help encourage teen girls who got pregnant along the way to feel free to return to school after having their babies in order not to cut short their goals, aspirations and ambitions.
The observation popped up at the Central and Western Regional launch of the COVID-19 back to school Monitoring Report on school girls who got pregnant during the pandemic.
It was organized by the AEW with CareLove Charity Foundation as implementing partners and funded by Actionaid and Light Children, Ghana.
The AEW, whose sole interest is centered on quality education for Africa, said there were few challenges with the Government’s re-entry policy which needed to be amended to arouse the interest of such girls in getting back to school.
Identifying these challenges, Mr. Ebenezer Ansah, a friend of the Foundation, said the centralized computerized school placement system for first year of the Senior High School (SHS) students was too rigid to admit such girls.
This was because a unique code, valid for the three year duration of the SHS would have expired before the girls got to the final year.
Such girls, Mr Ansah said, had to go back to sit for another Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) with their mates going ahead of them which sometimes discouraged them to continue schooling.
Mr. Pius Dzinyela, The Vice Chairman for Ghana National Association of Education Campaign Coalition enumerated poverty, social media influence, peer pressure, lack of sex education, as prominent issues contributing to pregnancy among girls of school-going age, adding that modernization was two-edged sword with the disadvantaged side negatively affecting the youth.
“As much as we fight for human right, we should not suffer for it, let’s instill discipline in them for they are young and exuberant and lets be role models ourselves,” he stated.
Mrs. Martha Jonah, The Executive Director of CareLove Charity Foundation, an NGO on Governance, Health and Education, said the Government should reconsider the re-entry policy and adequately amend it.
She suggested that there should be some sanctions against such girls and eventually be admitted again with flexible conditions.
Mrs Jonah further encouraged girls to make their education a priority and make the nation proud with their excellent performance as they serve at key positions in future.
GNA
