Ghana calls for stronger action against child marriage
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on MyJoyOnline
Education officials in Ghana are calling for stronger efforts to combat child marriage and teenage pregnancy in the Eastern Region. The teenage pregnancy rate there is about 14%, while authorities are urging families and schools to keep girls in education, according to MyJoyOnline.
Education authorities in Ghana’s Eastern Region have called for greater investment in girls’ rights and stronger efforts to combat child marriage at an International Day of the Girl event held at Oyoko Methodist Senior High School. Patricia Birago Gyamfi, the regional girls’ education officer, called in particular for no girl under 18 to be forced into marriage, according to MyJoyOnline.
The Eastern Region has an adolescent pregnancy rate of about 14%, said Kwasi Owusu Obeng, the regional population officer at the National Population Council. He called for boys to be more involved in reproductive health education programmes, as information is often focused on girls.
More than 4,000 girls aged 10 to 19 became pregnant between January and June in the region, according to Moses Barima Djimatey, deputy regional director of public health. He called for greater cooperation among local authorities, religious and traditional leaders, schools, police and health services to protect adolescent girls. The mobilisation comes as Ghana is also debating how to protect pupils from sexual violence in schools, including through calls to tackle sexual violence in Ghanaian senior high schools.
