10 and 13-year-olds are getting pregnant the more in Cape Coast

Magdalene Teiko Larnyoh 14:19 - 28 February 2018

The Cape Coast Metro Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Daniel Agyepong said this is a cause for worry since most of the girls have to abandon school to give birth.

The Cape Coast Metro Social Welfare Department has expressed worry over the increasing rate of pregnancies among young girls in the region.

This was disclosed by the Cape Coast Metro Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Daniel Agyepong at a town hall meeting at Amanful, a suburb of Cape Coast.

Mr Agyepong said this is a cause for worry since most of the girls have to abandon school to give birth.

He added that Cape Coast, for instance, recorded 25 cases of pregnant children within the age range of 10 and 13 years between January and April 2017.

This figure is expected to increase as more children are getting pregnant with each passing day.

Mr Agyepong blamed some parents of the pregnant children within the metropolis. He said some of them have shirked their responsibilities forcing the children to give in to sex for money.

He said that another disturbing development, in the metropolis is the rate at which children of school going age loiter at the beach than be in school during instructional periods.

In his opinion, the future of the metropolis was bleak if parents and guardians did not take up their responsibilities and reverse the current trend. In an instance he gave, he narrated how a father had given three children, half a bottle of club Muscatella as their meal for the day at school.