Fighting Teenage Pregnancy: “Free SHS has done more harm than good” – Afram Plains North MP
Over three hundred and sixty (360) Junior High School Leavers in the Afram Plains North Constituency cannot enroll on the free Senior High School programme this year because of teenage pregnancy.
In an interview with the Member of Parliament for Afram Plains North Constituency, Honourable Betty Krosbi Nana Efua Mensah on Agoo FM’s morning show, she emphatically stated that eradicating the situation’s rampancy had been her ultimate goal as a Deputy Ranking Member on the Committee on Gender and Children’s Welfare in Parliament.
She revealed the campaign against teenage pregnancy as a measure to combat the social canker. ‘Educating teenagers on total abstinence from sex, its prevention and the need to indulge in safer sexual practices as a way to eradicate teenage pregnancy has moved from an individual intervention to Government and other stakeholders’ involvement thus, it should be merely spoken of with our mouths’, she said.
The current policy on senior high school education is to provide free education. … Both policies aimed to increase enrollment, improve quality through academic performance and most importantly to reduce the burden on parents from paying their children fees. This policy was introduced in 2017 under the NPP Government.
However, for Honourable Betty Krosbi Mensah, the Free SHS has done more harm than good to people in her constituency. This is because it does not fully relieve parents off payment of fees. ‘In a community like Fasobator, it takes one about two (2) hours to travel to Donkokrom, the next town but Junior High School leavers could be offered admission as day students in schools in Kpando, a town in Volta Region. Parents cannot afford transport fares everyday, renting a room in Kpando becomes an ultimate option where these Children are left on their own ‘ she said. This, apart from going contrary to the objectives of the policy, results in irresponsible adolescent behaviour which ultimately ends in teenage pregnancy.
The situation previously was such that in 2016, according to statistics retrieved from the Ghana Education Service, Afram Plains North Constituency, one hundred and eighty (180) Junior High School leavers could not continue their education in the Senior High School due to the exorbitant and expensive bills on the prospectus. This made the people have a high expectation that the Free Senior High School policy will render the expensive bills a thing of the past. It is important that Government and other stakeholder organizations show concern about the current situation as the now free Senior High School policy has emerged an increase in the number of Junior High School leavers at home.
Story by: Amma Mirekua Antwi/Agoo FM
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