As many as four hundred and fourteen girls (414) have become pregnant in basic schools in the Eastern Region over the course of the past two academic years.
This damning statistic was revealed by the The Eastern regional Coordinator for Girl Child Education, Mrs. Cynthia Anim, in an interview during a meeting by the Eastern Regional Child Protection Committee in Koforidua Thursday.
Several of these girls get pregnant as a result of extreme poverty in their households, Mrs. Anim said, adding that a lot of them are thus forced to find men who take care of these basic needs for them, leading to s*xual interactions and these teenage pregnancies.
“These pregnant school children told us that their parents cannot afford some basic needs such us buying of sanitary pads, panties, books and other basic things so they take monies from young men to take care of their needs which ends up in s*xual exchanges.” she told Starr News.
She said the committee are planning child sensitisation programmes targeting both pupils and parents to enable them guard against these dangers that such pregnancies present to the girls in their education and their lives as well.