Tema New Town, Oct. 31, GNA - Ms Josephine Konadu Koduah, Executive Director of JIL Foundation, a nongovernmental organization, has underscored the need for girls to take their studies seriously and to guard against sexual activities.

By so doing, she said, they would be empowered to pursue higher education in order to live beyond and take up responsible positions in society.

Ms Kodua made the call at an interactive forum organized by the Foundation for pupils of Manhean TMA Junior High School on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health at Tema New Town.

The theme for the function was: "Advancing Child/Girl-Child Education through Adequate Dissemination of Relevant Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Information.

She said the time had come for parents not to shirk their responsibility of taking the bull by the horns, and to do well to educate their adolescent children on sex matters.

This, Ms Koduah said, would enlighten the children on the dangers of early sex, and the need, therefore, for them to abstain, and to concentrate on their books in order for them to attain higher status in society. Dr Emmanuel Sowah of the Volta River Authority Clinic at Osu and Ms Josephine Kuffuor, National Community Participation Co-ordinator at the Ghana Education Service, who took turns to interact with the children on the theme, advised them to guard against pre-marital sexual activities. This, they said, would save them from contracting sexually-transmitted diseases. The two Speakers also urged parents to have regular in-depth interactions with adolescents on sex, so as to tune their mindsets on the need to be concentrate on their studies.

They urged teachers to teach sex education in the early stages of the pupils' education, to help to demystify sex. 31 Oct. 09