PPAG AND UNFPA RETURN 10 ADOLESCENT MOTHERS TO SCHOOL

A total of ten adolescent mothers who dropped out of school have been sent back to school under the “Adolescent Girls Return to School project” being implemented by PPAG with funding from UNFPA.

The return to school policy initiated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ghana Education Service (GES) was designed to offer opportunity for drop-out teenage mothers to return to school after delivery. With support from the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) and the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), the beneficiaries received materials including diapers, washing soap, detergents, and antiseptics to help them care for their children back home after school.

They also received back-to-school materials such as school bags, exercise books, school uniforms, and shoes to equip them for school life. Addressing the beneficiaries in Kumasi, a Council Member of PPAG, Edmund Osei-Wusu revealed that the ten adolescent mothers from Tafo Parkrono, Krofrom, and Buokrom were identified from the communities, encouraged and assisted and returned to school. He noted that it is a core mandate of PAG to give reproductive health education and information to all persons especially vulnerable people. This is to ensure that they can live healthy lives irrespective of their challenges.

“As such, these teenage mothers have received the requisite sexual health education on family planning, contraceptives, and HIV education to secure their lives by preventing future unplanned pregnancies” he indicated.

To ensure these girls remained in school, the Girl Child Coordinator of Schools for the region will monitor their school activities. She was to ensure they reported and stayed in school without harassment, discrimination, or stigmatization from their peers.

Mr. Osei-Wusu encouraged the various branches of PPAG within the zone to reach out to more of such girls in their communities and ensure they remain in school and help the policy to succeed. The field implementing officer, Priscilla Adubea Adjei expressed gratitude to the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) for assisting PPAG to implement the project successfully. She noted that teenage mothers and their parents were also happy with the intervention. This is because all efforts to get their wards back to school failed because the girls complained they would be stigmatized by their peers, but UNFPA and PPAG have successfully executed that. The parents praised the MOE, GES, PPAG and UNFPA for the policy and its implementation.