Female junior high school pupils have been advised to avoid sexual relationships to avoid getting pregnant before their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Madam Emelia Bart-Plange, a pensioner, who gave the advice, expressed worry that a total of 215 candidates of this year’s BECE in 19 out of 20 districts in the Central Region, according to a news report, were found to be pregnant.

She was speaking on “Teenage Pregnancy and Adolescence” at a programme organised at the Ghana National Basic Inclusive School in Cape Coast by Good life Ghana (GLG), a non -governmental organisation.

She highlighted the challenges of teenage pregnancy, one of which she said is the inability of such girls to write their final examinations or return to school to complete their studies because of stigmatisation.

She advised the pupils to give their bodies time to properly develop for sexual intercourse and child birth while they concentrate on their quest to become responsible and independent individuals in the society.

Mrs Susana Marian Holdbrook, Headmistress of the school also advised the pupils to shun bad company and instead concentrate on their books adding: “Life is how you make it, learn hard to achieve your aims and aspire to higher levels in life.”

Mr Samuel Kojo Appah, the Executive Director of GLG said the talk was in continuation of efforts by the organisation to help reduce teenage pregnancy and other health related problems in schools and called on society to play its supervisory role to check the canker.