General News of Thursday, 14 December 2017
Source: mynewsgh.com
2017-12-14
Five teachers impregnated their students not 301 – GNAT reacts to Gender Ministry claims
Three (3) teachers have been recommended for dismissal after they were found to have impregnated their teenage students in the Central Region.
Deputy Central Regional Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teacher (GNAT), Mr. Nicholas Taylor who revealed this in reaction to claims 301 of such teachers exist in the region, said the affected teachers still have their cases pending before various disciplinary committees.
He insisted that claims by the Gender Ministry that 301 teachers from the region were found to have impregnated their students is skeptical indicating only five of such incidents have been recorded.
“I categorically challenged the data, told the gathering about procedures in the GES for handling such cases and that those 301 teachers purported to have caused the pregnancies have not been hauled before any disciplinary committee where we (as an Association) represent teachers”, he revealed.
“Results of a research we tasked our district GNAT secretaries in the region to conduct on this same topic which proved that out of the Five teachers identified across the region to have been involved: One was a yoghurt seller who teaches a girl in the evenings and took advantage of her. One was a service personel and the remaining three teachers have their cases at disciplinary committees with one of them recommended for removal”, he added.
According to the Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Mrs. Thywill Eyra Kpe data collected from 5,112 adolescent girls on who was responsible for their pregnancies indicated that 986 were small scale farmers 676 drivers, 3 97 and small scale miners.
She added that, 353 were employed men, 301 were primary and secondary school teachers as well as 1,015 boys between 13-19 years adding that a research conducted by the Ghana Health Service revealed that the region in 2016 recorded 12,408 pregnancies with 231 below 14 years.
Following the alarming spate of teenage pregnancies in the Central Region, the regional Department of Gender, (DoG) , the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has supported the DoG on male dialogue to champion the fight against teenage pregnancy.
In view of this, the Central Regional Department of Gender in collaboration with the Central Regional Coordinating Council organized the male dialogue at Apam with leaders of the identifiable groups on their roles in addressing the situation.
