The Field Assistant of Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), a non-governmental organisation, Mr Joshua Andoh has called on educationists in the country to teach adolescent girls on the need to use contraceptives.
According to him, Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) implemented by the Ghana Education Service (GES) entailed the education of students to embrace the use of contraceptives in preventing unwanted pregnancy.
Addressing Young and Wise Youth Leadership ( YoLe)in-school club debate on Friday in Essuehyia, Mr Andoh indicated that most educationists in the country teach students on the need to abstain from sex but failed to add the use of contraceptives in the teaching of abstinence.
That, he said has increased economic burden and dependency ratio, thus underscored the need for teachers, individuals and parents, to teach teenagers in adopting modern contraceptive methods as a means of abstinence to improve the economy.
Mr Andoh lamented that the wrong perception about the use of contraceptives such as condoms and pills had rather crippled the growth of the nation, saying, “Many students in the Ekumfi District have dropped out of school-based on teenage pregnancy.”
He observed that teenagers were not heeding to the abstinence advice, adding that the use of contraceptives would not only tackle the issue of teenage pregnancy but would also curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among the youth.
Mr Andoh promised his outfit’s commitment to educate pupils and teenagers on the need to plan their childbirth and equip them with necessary skills for them to become meaningful adults.
Mrs Dorcas Brenda Asare, Director of Education at Ekumfi District in the Central Region, promised her outfit’s readiness to holistically teach CSE for children to abstain from sex.
She stated that ignorance of students on sexual education was costing the nation and urged teachers to educate students on the topic to create awareness for pupils to secure themselves against sex and its related diseases.
Mrs Asare also called on parents to monitor their wards on the use of technology, stressing that some log into sites that had a negative implication on their psychological wellbeing and cautioned them to use technology to learn and boost their academic performance.
She entreated health workers in the area to support PPAG in beefing up sexual education to reduce teenage pregnancy.
The debate was between Essuehyia District Assembly Basic School and Attakwa TI Ahmadiyya Basic School and was organised by PPAG in collaboration with the National Youth Authority.
After a series of solid points raised by the contenders of Ahmadiyya School for the motion on the topic, ‘Should students be allowed to use contraceptives’, the school emerged winner of the debate.