Teenage Mothers Back to School Project (TMBSP), a project which aims to empower teenage mothers who have dropped out of school due to early pregnancy and childbirth, to continue and complete their basic education has been launched in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, on the Saturday January 20, 2018.
The project initiated by Obaapa Development Foundation (ODF), aims to enroll a thousand teenage mothers back to school with a statistic covering 50 districts in the current 10 Regions of Ghana with a fair distribution of hundred girls per Region, with an estimated enrollment of thousand (1,000) girls expected to be covered over a period of 5 years.
The TMBTSP, an initiative of the Girl-Child Education Unit of the Atwima Kwanwoma District Education Office, adopted in year 2013 and expanded into a National Project by Obaapa Development Foundation, will providing school fees where applicable, School clothes, books Sandals, a bag and other accessories to enable them study in comfort.
Launching the project, the Executive Director of OBAAPA Development Foundation (ODF) Nanahemaa Adjoa Awindor said the ‘Teenage Mothers Back to School Project’ seeks to provide opportunities for mothers who were forced to drop out of school for one reason or another to pursue their dream of completing formal education for a brighter future.
She said apart from the project mobilizing resources to get this target group back to school so that they can complete, at least, basic education, “it will serve as a platform for creating awareness on Early Child Marriage whilst educating all stakeholders about the importance for dropouts to go back to school instead of pushing or forcing them into ill prepared companionship which in most cases end up breaking down and causing more harm than good.”
She also said the TMBSP will provide counselling services to teenage mother drop outs, assist interested teenage mother dropouts find placements in basic schools and provide them with learning materials, uniforms, transportation, feeding, and other necessities of life where necessary.
“And in future, assist the babies and guardians of the Teenage Mother with basics of livelihood,” she added.
Assessing the impact of the project, Nanahemaa Adwoa Awindor, who is also the Nkosuohemaa of Afigya-Kwabre District and CEO of Premier Productions Group, said project will enable the target group to realize their dream of attaining basic level education which is expected to equip them with the necessary skills, particularly reading and numeracy ones, to meet the challenges of daily lives.
“It is common knowledge, for instance, that education benefits the individual, community, organisations and the entire nation, undoubtedly, when people drop out of school, it has negative consequences on the individual, the community and the entire nation as well,” she noted.
“When young ladies have given birth to children who are going to be the future leaders of this country, it is required that they have the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes to impact into their children for them to become useful to the nation. If, at any given time, the mothers themselves lack these ingredients above, what kind of future leaders would they actually be raising?” she quizzed
She said the project has the potential of empowering the future generations by empowering the mothers to acquire the basic ingredients to improve child upbringing in Ghana.
Some of the benefitted districts of the projects are Afigya-Kwabre, Asante Akyem North, Asante Akyem South, Ejisu-Juaben and Atwima Kwanwoma, all in the Ashanti region.
Source: otecfmghana.com/ Francis Appiah
