By Swuala Abdul-wahab
Junior High School students from the Jirapa Municipality and Lambussie district of the Upper West Region have pledged to resist any temptation that will lead them to premarital sex resulting in teenage pregnancy while in school.
The girls told GBC News Upper West Regional Correspondent Sualah Abdul-wahab that it pays to wait until they complete tertiary education before considering marriage or delivering a baby.
Patience Dassa and Rita Baawah made these assertions during a Girls Camp organised by ActionAid Ghana, an NGO at Jirapa.
The annual Girls Camp aimed at building the capacity of the girls to make them assertive in their lives.
Speaking at the occasion, the Acting Upper West Regional Manager of ActionAid, Madam Abiba Nabaradong, said the girl child is confronted with challenges that hinder her development. The challenges include poor academic performance at the BECE, poor parental care and control, sexual exploitation, and child marriage.
Madam Abiba said this explains why ActionAid since 2001, has initiated the Girls Camp concept to build the capacity of girls. She said so far, almost one thousand girls from the Upper West Region alone have benefited from the initiative.
The Actionaid Acting Regional Manager said the girls camp seeks to create a platform for the girls to interact with female professionals from different fields who will model them to know hygiene management, good manners, and their rights and responsibilities.
The Jirapa Municipal Director of Education, Huudu Kunateh, commended ActionAid Ghana for the initiative, which he said is impacting positively on girls education. Mr Kunatey entreated the girls to know what they want to become in the future so that they will be guided in working towards it. He asked them not to allow their friends to influence them negatively because they will live to regret it.
A Senior Lecturer and Vice Dean of the School of Education at the Simon Diedong Dombo University for Business and Integrated Development Studies, UBIDS, Dr Jane Lobnibe advised the girls to confer with their parents any problems confronting them.
They should also gather the courage to say no to sexual demands from either their teachers or college students.
The girls, Dr Lobnibe said, must also desist from entering the rooms of their teachers for whatever reasons because that could lead them to temptation.
Two of the girls, Patience Dassa and Rita Baawah, said they will henceforth be more serious with their studies and pass their BECE next year.
They also promised to share what they have learnt from the camp with their peers to enable them to benefit from the training. This year’s Girls Camp focused on overcoming obstacles to girls education and career development and the role of stakeholders.
One hundred girls from Jirapa Municipality and Lambussie District attended the two-day camp this year.
Other dignitaries who addressed the girls were the Lambussie District Director of Education, John Baptist Kulah, and the Jirapa Municipal Chief Executive, Nicholas Soyiri.