Failure to provide the needed parental protection is to blame for the increase in teenage pregnancy, a lecturer at Central University has said.
Dr Benjamin Otchere Ankrah said young girls become preys to irresponsible men because they are left on their own to fend for themselves.
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Recent statistics from the Education Ministry revealed a rise in teenage pregnancies at the primary and Junior High School levels.
The situation has generated a lot of controversy in the country with many calling for increased sex education in schools.
But speaking on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem Thursday, Benjamin Otchere Ankrah said teenage pregnancy was an age-old problem which must be tackled head-on.
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The worse culprits, he stated are irresponsible parents who use their daughters as bates to milkmen to survive.
“The parents blame their conduct on poverty and these young girls are predisposed to early pregnancies which ruin their lives” Dr Otchere-Ankrah bemoaned.
The lecturer also advised the affluent in society to be mindful of the programmes their children watch on television since they have the tendency to influence their behaviour negatively.
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He stressed that when parents become more involved in providing guidance to their children and the government focuses on minimizing poverty, girls will be safe.
Dr Otchere Ankrah added that education is a right thus any pregnant teenager must be allowed to continue her education after childbirth.
