By Samuel Akumatey, GNA
Mafi Adidome (V/R), Sept. 17, GNA - Fathers have been urged to uphold their supervisory roles over children, particularly the girls, to help save them from teenage and unwanted pregnancies.
Torgbui Akliku Ahorney II, the Chief of Mafi Dadoboe and Wute in the Central Tongu District of the Volta Region, said fathers often spent their time meeting the physical needs of their families and ended up neglecting the psychological requirements, creating parenting gaps.
The Chief said this when he chaired a forum for men and teenage boys on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment at Mafi Adidome in the Central Tongu District.
He said mothers alone could not bear the burden and that the strong arm of fathers were required to ensure the proper upbringing of children.
“Fathers must not be consumed solely with putting food on the table to the neglect of their duty of bringing up their children properly,” he said.
Madam Lena Alai, the Volta Regional Director of the Department of Gender, said the 2017 Cluster Survey placed the Region ahead of others in terms of teenage pregnancy.
She said stakeholders had realised that men had been left out of efforts at reversing the trend, thus the need to bring them together to discuss how best to tackle the issue.
She said teen mothers were forced to become wives, which affected their education, skills training and livelihood, and that the forum would collate views of chiefs and opinion leaders to help chart a path to ending the menace.
Mrs Gifty Asempa, the Central Tongu Public Health Nurse, said poor parenting remained a major cause of teenage pregnancies, and asked parents not to give up on recalcitrant children.
She asked them not to leave sex education to their children’s peers as they might give wrong information, as well as ensure they made good use of their leisure time.
Mrs Asempa said among other interventions at the District level was the formation of adolescent health clubs in senior high schools and appealed for support to keep them active.
Mr Ruben Akuffo, the Central Tongu District Coordinating Director, said reducing teenage pregnancy was a priority of the Assembly and that by-laws would be enforced to help stem the tide.
The forum was part of the United Nations Population Fund’s sensitisation efforts at reducing teenage pregnancies, organised by the Department of Gender, under the auspices of the Volta Regional Coordinating Council.
The all-male engagement was on the theme: “Well Trained Girls and Boys make a Developed Society,” and was attended by traditional leaders, religious groups, students, and heads of some social and economic associations.
GNA
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