Bongo (Upper east) -- At least 120 teenage girls in basic school in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region got pregnant and dropped out of school between January and December this year.

A Sad Situation

The youngest of these girls is 12 years old and the oldest 19. Most of them were in primary and Junior Secondary Schools (JSS). Strikingly, nothing serious is done to the men who impregnate the girls, and families of the girls are content with little sums of money offered as compensation or meant for the upkeep of the victims.

Seminar

The District Chief Executive, Mr Clement Apikiya, said this at opening a day's seminar on population and development at Bongo. The seminar, organised by the National Population Council, has as its theme "strengthening collaboration amongst development partners to address population issues". Health workers from the district as well as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other development agencies attended.

Educational Programs

Mr Apikiya said the district education oversight committee of the assembly has instituted educational programmes to inform parents and community leaders on the dangers of teenage pregnancy, as well as the need to educate the girl-child. He said the assembly would take the issue up and treat it with all seriousness and possibly enact by-laws to punish men who impregnate teenage girls, as well as family members who connive to get such men off the hook. Mr Apikiya said Bongo, which is one of the youngest districts in the region with a population of about 78,000, has a density of 183 people per Kilometre Square. This he said has exposed the district to excessive population pressure, while 40 percent of its land is occupied by rocks.

Population Growth

The DCE expressed concern about the population growth of the area and said whereas the average childbirth per woman in the region is five, that of Bongo, in terms of distribution, exceeds seven. He explained that a large family size puts undue pressure on the household resources and worsens the poverty situation, which is already widespread in this district.