Madam Enyonam Afi Amafuga, Volta Regional Director of Education, has stressed the need for adolescents to be provided with the rightful information to guide and empower them through life successfully.
“Our adolescent children need accurate information in this fast-paced 21st Century to be able to navigate life successfully. We owe it a duty to provide them not only these information, but equip them with knowledge and skills that position them to make the most of the adolescent stage,” she stated.
Madam Amafuga who was speaking at a four-day Mentorship and Empowerment Camp for 120 adolescent girls and boys in Ho, said the adolescent stage was a unique one that came with both opportunities and challenges.
The Director said it was therefore necessary for adolescents to use the period to explore the world around them to acquire requisite knowledge and skills and build their capacity to enhance their self-worth.
She urged them not to sit idle, but rather engage themselves in activities that would offer them the needed space within which they could discover and nurture their God- given talents they embodied to make a meaningful progress in life.
Ms Lena Alai, Volta Regional Director, Department of Gender, said adolescents engaging in early sex and marriage gave rise to gender based violence and abuse as most of them were not mentally developed to face marital challenges.
She said most of them lacked the knowledge and skills to negotiate for safe sex from their partners, thereby becoming victims of unsafe relationships, and therefore urged them to desist from early sex and marriages.
Ms Alai said previous Empowerment Camps were helpful to the beneficiaries as most of them became assertive and willing to take up leadership roles to support the development of their communities, and expressed hope that this year’s one would provide the participants greater opportunities.
The participants were selected from Afadjato South, South Dayi, North Dayi and Central Tongu Districts of the Volta region.
The programme was organised by the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) and the Department of Gender with sponsorship from the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) and the Canadian government on the theme: “Adolescent lives matter.”
