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Photo Courtesy: Abod |
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Young, pregnant and
ashamed
By Gideon Sackitey, Accra, Ghanadot
Accra, April 28, Ghanadot - Life can be so cruel making you
lose the fight for survival on so many fronts. What would
you do if after struggling in school for several years and
just when you were about to write your high school
examinations you not only got pregnant, but also had to
forego your examinations because of shame?
It is or could be true that in certain countries, this may
not be a big deal because of the social safety nets
available. But here it is and it
means a lot to us.
This was what happened to six teenage girls who despite
successfully registering for the ongoing Basic Education
Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Adaklu-Anyigbe
District of the Volta Region, failed to write their
examinations.
The six were part of the total number of female candidates
who failed to show up at the various examination centres in
the district on the first day of the BECE exams!
They were believed to have absented themselves from writing
the examinations for fear of being mocked at by their
colleagues, in spite of the Ghana Education Service's (GES)
new examination regulation, which allows pregnant students
to take part in the exams.
Equally worrying is the fact that there were reported cases
of pregnancies at almost all the four examination centres in
the district.
This unfortunate development was reported when Mr George
Gadzekpo, the District Coordinating Director (DCD) led a
team of newsmen to find out the state of conduct of the BECE
examination at the various centres in the district.
Five Hundred and forty-nine (549) candidates from 30 Junior
Secondary Schools registered for this year's BECE exams in
the district, out of which 8, apart from the 6 pregnant
ones, were absent for inexplicable reasons.
I can actually imagine the pain of the parents of these
wonderful girls, who for all we know were actually brilliant
students in their schools or better still had a well
structured future for them if they had been able to complete
their education.
I say complete their education, because as our system is, it
is very possible that only one or two if at all, of these
six girls would ever find themselves in the four corners of
a school ever again! How sad.
Indeed, I have been asking where the boys or men who made
them pregnant are. If they were their school mates, chances
are that they were allowed to write their exams. Fancy that
these girls have to make these terrible sacrifices alone.
The story as reported in the local media did not see the
education director making any comment whatsoever on the
matter! Is it that the GES, apart
from its regulation that pregnant girls be made to take part
in examinations, does not care
what or how things go on?
To stretch it further, I would want to ask if Mr Gadzekpo
would have been so silent on the matter if it had been his
daughter?
I wish to urge the educational authorities to work at
getting these girls to write their examinations perhaps at a
latter date. At least they deserve it. Fact is too many
girls have had to bear this brunt too often. We all may be
guilty, but I believe there is still hope for people who
find themselves in such situations.
However, I think the men or boys who were involved in the
situation must also help or be made to face the music too.
Shame for some is so costly. Will it do same to you?
Gideon Sackitey, Accra, April 28, 2007, Ghanadot.com
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