The Eastern Regional Directorate of Ghana Education Service (GES) has urged students who got pregnant in 2020/2021 in Basic schools as well as Senior high schools to return to school after delivering their babies.
Most importantly, students yet to report to the various Senior High Schools where they were placed due to their pregnancy are being encouraged to register else may lose their admission status.
Ms. Patricia Birago Gyamfi, Eastern Regional Girls Education Officer of GES, said, failure by these students to report to their schools will mean they are school dropouts and would therefore have no records to facilitate their re-entry in school, especially Senior High Schools (SHS).
She emphasized that some pregnant students managed to sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for placement into SHS but were unable to report to the schools when placed under the computerized selection and Placement system.
Therefore their registration processes are still pending and likely to be canceled if they fail to report to the schools.
The cancellation of their admission also means that these students may have to resist the BECE examination before they get the opportunity to attend any Senior High School again.
The Eastern Region recorded 10,856 teenage pregnancies in 2020, the second-highest next to Ashanti Region, which registered 17,802 teenage pregnancies on the national chart.
Ms. Brago Gyamfi stated these and many more reasons formed the basis for the “come back to school campaign”
She said both staff and students in Junior and Senior High schools had been counseled and sensitized to support and relate well with pregnant or teenage mothers in the schools to encourage them to stay in school.
She appealed to parents to support their pregnant girl children or those who had delivered their babies to enable them to take advantage of the re-entry policy to continue their education.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Obed Ansah
