Irresponsible parenting has been identified as one of the major causes of teenage pregnancy in the Akrofuom District of the Ashanti Region.

Participants at a symposium on the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy, organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), believe most parents were failing in their parental duties.

They mentioned the importance of parenting as the first avenue for children to be imparted with values and knowledge crucial to the fight against teenage pregnancy and drug abuse in the district.

The participants also attributed the high rate of teenage pregnancy and drug abuse to peer pressure, social media addiction, lack of enforcement of laws and the introduction of foreign culture on the airways through telenovelas.

Ali Kassim, the District Director of NCCE, said the Commission realised that cases of teenage pregnancy and drug abuse were on the ascendancy in the district during its outreach programmes.

That confirmed a recent report that Akrofuom was among the districts with the highest teenage pregnancy cases across the country, he said.

Kassim said although the Directorate had liaised with other institutions in the past to address the menace, it was imperative to adopt new strategies to tackle the problem or bring it to the barest minimum.

Samuel Yaw Obubah, who chaired the symposium, commended the Directorate for the programme and urged the participants to be ambassadors of the issues discussed by amplifying them in their respective communities.

He reminded them that parents had a critical role to play in the upbringing of their children and urged them not to shirk that crucial responsibility.