ROCKING THE CRADLE - ROCKING THE BOAT
Sending Teenage Mothers Back to School in Northern Ghana
Imagine not being able to continue going to school, not because you don’t want to, or even because your parents can’t afford to but because you have had a baby.
We are no stranger to teen pregnancies in the UK; but we would at least expect our girls to complete their education. This is not the reality in northern Ghana where, our partners the Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC) say, it is not uncommon for teenage girls to drop out of school after becoming pregnant. Sometimes this is because they are forbidden to return by the school authorities; their parents expect them to marry their child’s father; or because the belief is prevalent that young mothers are unable to combine education with pregnancy. .
However, in 21 schools in the Bolgatanga area of the north change is beginning to happen. CSRC is fighting to combat such perceptions and practices as part of a Comic Relief funded “Accessing Health Rights” project. Through their work, some young mothers are now being able to continue going to school to happen.
Safia dreams of becoming a nurse in the future. She became pregnant when she was about to enroll in the first year of school. She was not even 13 years old. She lived in Pialugu community in Garu-Tempane district and was forced to drop out of school. In fact she had to move to southern Ghana to have her child.
After her son was born Safia returned to her village. Attending one of the “Durbars” or community education festivals held by CSRC she gathered her courage and told her story to CSRC staff. Safia wanted to return to school. As a result CSRC facilitated a series of meetings with her parents and her old school teachers.