THE EFFECTS OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY ON THE EDUCATIONAL
ATTAINMENT OF GIRLS AT CHORKOR, A SUBURB OF ACCRA
Gyan, Charles, “The Effects of Teenage Pregnancy on the Educational Attainment of Girls at
Chorkor, a Suburb of Accra”, 2013, Vol. 3, No. 3, [Link].
The study “The Effects of Teenage Pregnancy on the Educational Attainment of Girls at
Chorkor, a Suburb of Accra”, by Charles Gyan seeks to find out how pregnancy affects the
education of teenagers. Specifically, this study aimed to identify the factors that lead to teenage
pregnancy and its effects on educational opportunities for teenage girls.
It was stated from the abstract that the incidence of teenage pregnancy has been very high
in Ghana. This results the author to make a study to explore the effects of teenage pregnancy on
the educational attainment of the girl-child at Chorkor, a fishing village and a neighbourhood in
the city of Accra. In selecting respondents for this study, purposive and snowball sampling
procedures were used that results to a total sample size of 55 respondents. The researcher used
questionnaire, in-depth interview, focus group discussions and observation in collecting data. In
this study, what is required is a comprehensive approach that incorporates the home, the school,
and the community.
On the first part of the discussion, Gyan was able to determine the factors that cause
teenage pregnancy using a statistical table (p.55). From the data he obtained from the
respondents, he stated that poor parenting, poverty, media, peer pressure, school dropout and
love seeking were the major factors. The author was able to relate his results to the other
findings. Some of these were consistent and supported other experts’ findings such as Sam &
Phillips’ (2004) findings that parents play a pivotal role in curbing teenage pregnancy through
proper parenting skills and parental attitudes. On the other hand, one of Gyan’s findings
contradict Davies et al’s (2004) findings that relationship and atmosphere within the home can
push teenagers to seek for love and affection from their male colleagues which invariably make
them engage in early sex that may lead to pregnancy which is I think probably true nowadays.
After knowing the causes of the teenage pregnancy, Gyan starts to obtain data on the
effects of teenage pregnancy on the education which is the focus of his study. It was revealed
from this study that most of teenage mothers had dropped out of school. School dropout is seen
as a cause as well as an effect of teenage pregnancy which has been also argued by several
authors. Gyan wasn’t able to clearly explain and support this part. He just stated that girls
dropped out of school due to pregnancy while others became pregnant because they dropped out
of school. There is no strong evidence for this because not all of them are more likely to engage
in early sexual activities. Despite of this, his findings are still consistent to the theory
underpinning this study as well as to Muganda-Onyando & Omondi’s (2008).
Another effect of the teenage pregnancy is the reducing study hours of the teenage
pregnant. It was clear in the Table 3 (p.56) that before the pregnancy, they could study for three
to four hours, then after pregnancy, this reduced to an average of one to two hours. This part is
not as convincing as compared to Gyan’s other findings. In other words, this needs more
information and evidences to prove that we need to consider this one. However, this finding
supports Mohase’s (2006) findings that issues of pregnancy affect the level of concentration of
pregnant women.
To sum up, teenage pregnancy really affects the educational attainment of teenage girls.
As we can see on this study, the author stated the causes and effects of teenage pregnancy.
Furthermore, Gyan also suggested recommendations in order to reduce the incidence of teenage
pregnancy. Therefore, this study will serve as a guide to those teenagers who are currently
experiencing this issue. Overall, this study contains information that will be useful to others yet
we cannot say that this was perfect. We noticed that he gave more focus on the causes of teenage
pregnancy rather than its effects which should be the focus of his study. It is better if the author
puts limits on it. Nevertheless, the study is still good. This will also be beneficial to the future
researchers whose topic is related to this, as this study will serve as one of their references.