The Department of Gender in the Central region has hinted it will arrest and prosecute students of the University of Cape Coast who impregnate underage girls in the region.
The Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Thywill Eyram Kpeh said taking action will help reduce the teenage pregnancy scourge in the university community.
“We need parents; we need community leaders to be able to inform us, to tell us what is going on in their community to report such cases to DOVVSU,” Mr Kpeh said.
“I believe they will take steps to apprehend any man who does that. We also need to get the girls to understand that if a man impregnates you and you are below 16 and you are impregnated by a student and you are not able to speak out while that student is on campus, when that student leaves, the burden of poverty, the burden of catering for that child becomes your headache,” Mr Kpeh told Citi FM.
The Central Regional Department of Social Welfare reported as many as 5,000 teenage girls being pregnant in the region.
According to a research by the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA), Cape Coast Branch the male students of the UCC are responsible for 80% of the pregnancies in the metropolis especially in the Amamoma, Apewosika, Kwesi Prah areas.
The said students, according to the report, lure the girls who are mostly from poor homes with money.
Some of the students, according to the report, impregnated as many as four girls in the area aged between 13-16 years.
