A lecturer at the University of Cape Coast has called on the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to organize in-service training for teachers of Reproductive Health related subjects to equip them to be able to treat the topics that affect sexuality of children.
He therefore called on the authorities of the education service to employ the services of health professionals if teachers can’t treat topics on Sexual and Reproductive Health due to some acclaimed “sacred words” in it.
Speaking to press at the launch of a report dubbed, “From Paper to Practice: Sexuality Education Policies and Implementation in Ghana”, in Sunyani, Professor Akwasi Kumi-Kyereme also kicked against the idea of parents preventing their wards from having access to sexual education
Professor Akwasi Kumi-Kyereme, the Vice Dean at the faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Cape Coast, who joined his other 8 colleagues at the university to conduct the research, noted that parents should open up to teach their children about sex and its related issues to avert teenage pregnancies and STIs.
“The silence of parents on sexuality has pushed children to crave for knowledge on it from their naïve peers leading them into homosexuality, sexual promiscuity. These immoral acts are also coupled with unprotected sex resulting in unsafe abortions”, he stated.
This research was conducted by the University with financial support from New York based Guttmacher Institute. The research was conducted in Brong Ahafo, Greater Accra and Northern Regions to find out adolescents’ comprehensive knowledge on sexuality education.
A consultant at the institute, Dr. Joana Nerquaye-Tetteh said this research is among the numerous research the institute has sponsored and conducted in the country.
“We hope that the Ghana Education Service will consider the outcome of the research in the new educational reforms to aid in eradicating the high menace of teenage pregnancy in the country” she stated.
Dr. Osei Kuffour Afreh the deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Health Director who was also at the event observed that, the alarming rate of teenage pregnancy poses a great threat on both the lives of the children and the health facilities.
“The children either resort to unsafe abortion or refuse to attend antenatal service because of the stigma they go through, partly due to the fact that they share the same facility with adults for health care; resulting in labor complications” he added.
Below is a link to the factor sheet to the report
https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/sexuality-education-ghana
