The Volta Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Mrs Thywill Eyra Kpe, has urged parents to take a greater interest in the lives and wellbeing of their children to help curb teenage pregnancy in the region.
She said effective parental guidance was critical to helping young people make informed decisions and avoid behaviours that could jeopardise their future.
Mrs Kpe said parents could no longer afford to remain detached from the activities of their children, stressing that active parental involvement was essential to raising responsible adults and building safer communities.
She made the call at the closing ceremony of a two-day training programme for 60 couples on the responsible roles of parents in preventing teenage pregnancy in the Central Tongu and Adaklu districts at Adidome over the weekend.
She said, with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Regional Gender Department had extended its programmes to train couples to serve as agents of change in the two beneficiary districts.
Mrs Kpe said parents played a crucial role in transforming communities and, therefore, needed to take their responsibilities towards their children seriously.
The Central Tongu District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Addison Dodzi Mornyuie, commended the Department of Gender for the initiative, describing it as timely, particularly at a time when some parents had reneged on their responsibilities towards their children.
He said it was unfortunate that some parents showed little concern about the wellbeing of their wards, failed to ensure that they attended school and did not even know where they spent the night or what they ate.
Mr Mornyuie urged parents to take a greater interest in their children, saying the greatest legacy they could leave them was an investment in their education.
He also said the era when the kitchen was regarded as the preserve of girls was over and urged couples to protect children from all forms of violence and discrimination.
The Adaklu District Public Health Nurse, Ms Ernestine Amehoe, urged parents to create an enabling environment for regular communication with their children on reproductive health and socially acceptable lifestyles.
She said open communication between parents and children could help prevent young people from engaging in premarital sex and other risky behaviours.
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, ADIDOME
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