A former Director of the Girls Edu­cation Unit (GEU), Mrs Benedicta Tenni Seidu has asked female teachers to be compassionate on pregnant teenage girls.

According to Mrs Seidu, pregnan­cy should not be a reason for girls to drop out of school, adding that female teachers especially, have a huge role to play in ending the discrimination against the pregnant school girls.

Mrs Seidu said this at a panel dis­cussion at the commemoration of the International Day for the Girl organ­ised by the Girls Education Network of the Ghana Education Service (GES).

It was held under the theme “in­vesting in girl’s rights, leadership and wellbeing: the education sector re­sponse to pregnancy and schooling.’’

The aim is to celebrate girls who are often marginalised.

According to Mrs Seidu, it was important for Head Teachers and their staff to frequently create awareness on the consequences of teenage preg­nancy, adding that it would reduce its occurrence.

The Director, Pre-Tertiary Educa­tion, Nana Baffour Awuah said a number of programmeS aimed at putting the girl child in school had been rolled out.

He said gender parity had been achieved at the basic school level with a similar feat being chalked at the Senior High School (SHS) level.

He said his outfit would continue to im­plement programmes to ensure all girls have access to education and inclusivity and called on nongovernmental organisations and stakeholders to support girl child edu­cation at all levels in the country.

Mr Awuah said girl child education was important and therefore “we are doing all that we can to ensure that all obstacles that hinder girl’s edu­cation are removed’; not even preg­nancy should prevent any girl from schooling.”

A Professional Officer for Culture at the United Nations Education and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), Ms Magdalene Hanna said the challenges encountered by girls were multifac­eted and deeply rooted in a com­plex interplay of social norms that perpetuate gender discrimination, economic barriers, and structural inequalities.

She therefore called for con­tinued policy dialogues, capacity strengthening of institutions and the promotion of best practices to ensure that girl’s right to education was not a mere promise but a reality.

She stated that girls were the future of the country and that it should be the collective responsibility of every citizen to ensure that they were equipped with tools, opportu­nities and platforms they needed to succeed.

 By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu