The Voices of Youth Coalition (VoYC), a youth group in the Wa Municipality, has called for an end to stigmatization, discrimination, and negative attitudes towards teen mothers in schools. The group said such attitudes discouraged teen mothers from re-enrolling in school and stressed the need to create a safe environment in the school suitable for the re-enrollment of teen mothers. Miss Rahinatu Haruna, the President of the VoYC, said this in Wa during a street campaign organised by the Coalition to drum home the need for an enabling social and educational environment to encourage teenage mothers to return to school. Scores of young people from diverse youth groups, organisations, and networks in the Wa Municipality participated in the float through some principal streets. They wielded placards some of which read: 'Stop stigma against teen mothers' and 'Teen mothers deserve better.' The programme formed part of the advocacy activities of the group to get girls who got pregnant and dropped out of school to re-enrol. The VoYC is an initiative of the Youth Opportunity and Transformation in Africa (YOTA) in partnership with 100% For The Children, an NGO, with support from the Danish Civil Society in Development (CISU), to inspire youth voices in Ghana's education sector response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The group observed that about 1,700 teenage pregnancies were recorded among schoolgirls in the Wa Municipality owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had caused many of them to drop out of school. 'We realised that these teen mothers are not back to school, and we need them in school, so we are creating awareness that these teen mothers need to go back to school, and we need to stop the stigma against teen mothers,' Miss Haruna explained. She commended the Wa Municipal Ghana Education Directorate for taking steps to get the affected girls back to school through the re-enrollment policy. Miss Haruna, however, said the greatest challenge in getting them back to school was the acceptance and willingness of the girls to go back to school. 'This is because they feel the school is not safe for them, there is stigma, there is discrimination, and even the infrastructure there is not suitable for them,' she indicated. Mr Joshua Jirjiri, the Vice President of the Coalition, indicated that the group would engage the Wa Municipal Education Directorate to chart appropriate ways of integrating teenage mothers into the school. He encouraged teen mothers to take responsibility for securing their future, saying, 'If their parents or whoever forces them to go and they are not willing it will affect them, they will bear the responsibility of their lives in future. 'We don't think teenage pregnancy should prevent them from going to school, yes, it was a mistake that happened, but should we continue the mistake, no, we need to correct the wrongs,' he observed. Some participants of the float acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the youth in all aspects of their lives, including education and social li fe. Miss Rhoda Adam, a participant, said some young people and children dropped out of school within the period, with some engaging in drug abuse and emphasized the need for all hands to be on the deck to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Source: Ghana News Agency
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