From Kwadwo B. Donkor, Foase.

Obaapa Development Foundation, a local non governmental organization, will from next academic year thru the next five years, send a total of 1,000 teenage mothers back to school, to give them a second chance in life.

The project named 'A 1,000 Teenage Mothers Back to School Project (TMBTSP) will first be piloted in five districts in the Ashanti region before being implemented nationwide in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ministry of Education, District Assemblies and other Development Partners.  It will sponsor 20 selected teenage mothers from each district and five districts in each region.

The selected districts for the pilot project include Afigya-Kwabre, Ejisu-Juabeng, Asante-Akyim Central, Atwima-Nwabiagya and the initiating district, Atwima-Kwanwoma.

The project is the brain child of the girl child education unit of the Atwima-Kwanwoma district assembly in the Ashanti region. It was conceived some three years ago, specifically to address and reduce the menace of teenage pregnancies whilst encouraging girl-child education in the District. The concept was enthusiastically adopted and enhanced into a national project by Nanahemaa Adwoa Awindor, a native of the Atwima-Kwanwoma district.

Addressing a stakeholders meeting at Foase on Tuesday, Nanahemaa Awindor, the founder of Obaapa Development Foundation, who is also the Nkosuohemaa of Afigya Kwabre District, said the first batch of students will be enrolled next academic year and appealed to all stakeholders, particularly the mothers of the teenage mothers, to help their daughters to go back to school by helping to cater for the kids to allow the girls time to concentrate on their studies.

The meeting was to engage the neighborhood in a conversation towards the realisation of an appropriate implementation strategy, whilst emphasizing the need for their ownership of the project. She sought the support of the stakeholders particularly the District Education office, District Assembly and the Cultural Leaders, to ensure a successful implementation of the project when it takes off next academic year.

She said her foundation bought into the idea because many of the teenage mothers, after giving birth are unable to continue their education and become a burden not only on their families but the society as a whole as their inability to look after their children also contributes to the menace of street children and its associated problems.

She therefore appealed to the Chiefs and Queenmothers as well as Assembly Members to help in monitoring the girls to ensure that they would not go back to their old ways and rather make good use of the opportunity given them.

According to Nanahemaa Awindor, all the beneficiaries would be supported to finish at least secondary education and added that though the emphasis was for the girls to get educated, the project would encourage some of them to venture into some of the male dominated technical areas such as masonry, carpentry, auto mechanic, welding and other vocations.

She said the foundation was into contact with some of the technical institutions to enroll those who would show interest in those fields.

Nanahemaa said the foundation estimated to spend a minimum amount of One thousand, five hundred Ghana cedis (Ghc 1,500.00) on each girl per academic year and this will include their school fees, feeding and crèche fees for the child.

The District Director of Education at Atwima-Kwanwoma, Mrs. Felicia Opokuaa Mallet, could not hide her excitement when members of the foundation paid a courtesy call at her office before the forum. She congratulated the team for the bold effort and offered some words of encouragement and support. She said the time is just apt for the commencement of the project and she can't wait to see it roll-out.

Ms. Angelina Sarfo-Adu, he officer in charge of Girl Child Education District, who conceptualized the project, said she hopes through such project, many of the girls will be able to go back to school and be able to finish at least their basic education. She admonished mothers to have time for their girls and not leave them to live their own lives, leading most of them to fall into bad companies and ending up getting pregnant.

According to her, many of the parents leave home as early as 4am to their farms, market or businesses and only return in the evening at around 6pm or later and have no knowledge of what their daughters do during the day.

Again, she said many of the parents too were single mothers and shared their rooms with daughters where they bring in their boyfriends and expose the girls to some of their sexual activities.

The Chief Executive of the district, Nana Kwabena Nkrumah, welcomed the project and pledged the assembly support to ensure its successful implementation.

He said as a beneficiary of a similar project that enabled him to go back to school late in life, he would support it to ensure that the girls also got a second chance in life to enable them to become useful to themselves and society as a whole.

Some of the parents who spoke at the programme, appealed to the foundation and the assembly to institute some punitive measures and guidelines that will ensure that any beneficiary who became pregnant again while on the project was severely punished to serve as deterrent to others.

This, they said, would ensure that the beneficiaries would not go back to their old ways at the expense of their studies.