Nine teenage mothers are sitting for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Asante Akim North District of Ashanti Region.
Eight others out of the 1,216 candidates are pregnant across four examination centres in the area.
Majority of the teenage mothers come from schools in Afram Plains.
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Education authorities anticipate the numbers could be higher from all 53 basic schools comprising 41 public and 12 private basic schools in the area.
However, ten candidates failed to report to take the exams, at least on the first day, at all the four centres – Oweriman, Collins and Agogo State Senior High School Centres.
District Director of Education, Ernest Kwadwo Afari, is unhappy about the trend of teenage pregnancy in the area despite increased access to education.
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“This year the number has shot up. We didn’t have these high figures last year especially teenage mothers. You know the early stages of pregnancy it is difficult to detect. There could be more pregnancies. What we are seeing here means we are losing the fight against teenage pregnancy,” he said.
Speaking to Nhyira FM, Mr Afari said some teenage mothers have brought their mothers closer to the exams centres to take care of their babies while they write the exams.
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He blames the lack of parental control for teenage pregnancies in the area.
Source: Ghana/Nhyira FM/Ohemeng Tawiah/ohemengtawiah@gmail.com
