Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Mrs Thywill Eyra Kpe is urging parents to stop pushing their teenage girls who get pregnant out of the home.
According to her such actions only breed more problems as young teenagers who are sent out to cohabit end up engaging in extra premarital affairs hence leading to more unwanted pregnancies.
She said parents who face such situations should rather show the needed care and love to support their young girls bounce back to complete their education and find a niche for themselves later in future.
Mrs Thywill Kpe said interactions and investigations from her department indicate that poor parenting has become the major driving force that normally gets the child into the situation to get pregnant.
“Unfortunately in the Central Region with the kind of work I do, I have a lot of parents who get angry when pregnancy comes, but when you investigate you realize that the parents themselves have contributed to the situation the child is in. When the child gets pregnant the first reaction is that whoever got you pregnant go and live with that person. In Central Region due to the matrilineal marriage system most would-be fathers of teenage pregnant girls realizing that they don’t have money, leave the pregnant girl on her own to take care of herself” she added.
According to her the practice of cohabitation as a result of teenage pregnancy continues to persist due to parents shirking their responsibilities on educating their wards on sex. She, therefore, advised parents to be highly responsible for their female wards especially with the upsurge of teenage pregnancy and it related cohabitation and child marriage situation in the region.
read also: Child Marriage likely to rise due to Coronavirus Pandemic – C/R Director of Gender
The internet and friends she noted, will teach them a lot of things if parents do not take up their responsibility of giving their wards the necessary sex education.
Madam Kpe warned against the practice and called on parents to prioritize the needs of their girl child to avoid them seeking assistance from outside.
She said her department is also putting in measures to control the situation through the Community Parent Network Advocacy Group (COPNAG) to control the situation, especially during this coronavirus pandemic.
“With this, parents are trained with the knowledge in sex education to be able to speak to other parents and even adolescents on their sexuality issues. it’s a collaborative thing we are doing with the UNFPA so that we can bridge the gap especially with parenting and non-maintenance issues.”
Source: Aba Aikins Appah/ATLFMNEWS
