The Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service has confirmed a total number of 268 pregnancies have been recorded in the Upper East region between January to September 2020.

Out of the 268 pregnancies recorded, 220 are Junior High School students. The directorate stated that these are provisional figures of the eight districts of the Upper East Region.

The districts are Kassena-Nankana Municipal, Kassena-Nankana West, Talensi, Nabdam, Pusiga, Garu and Tempane Districts with Talensi having the highest of 75 pregnancies and 83 marriages.

According to a GNA report, the Regional Girls Education Officer of the National Population Council (NPC), Rose Akanson, made this known while addressing stakeholders at a forum on the impact of COVID-19 on teenage pregnancy, organized by the Regional Directorate of the NPC.

Aside from the high number of pregnancies, about 105 marriages also were recorded within the same period.

Rose Akanson added, “30 nursing mothers took part in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) while 26 others sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) within the eight districts.”

The high rate of pregnancies is attributed to poverty and coronavirus restriction.

“Some 'COVID-19 restrictions,' and parental irresponsibility, “although the preliminary findings revealed that as young as 12-year-old girls had become pregnant. Most of the girls who have always been pregnant over the years were partly due to late enrollment, you have a girl who is 19 years and she is in JHS one and in the Talensi District most of the pregnancies and marriages were recorded in the upper primary,” she said.