Teachers and students perception of adolescent pregnancy and it's relevance to the social studies curriculum

Abstract

This study was designed to examine teachers' and students' perception of adolescent pregnancy and its relevance to the social studies curriculum in the Komenda- Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana. The study was a cross-sectional survey. Simple random sampling procedure was employed to select 40 JHS, 300 third year students and 62 social studies teachers for the study. Questionnaires were used to solicit responses from both students and teachers. The Statistical Product for Service Solutions (SPSS) was employed to analyze the data. Frequencies, percentages and tables were used to present the data.The findings from the study showed that teachers and students understood the concept of adolescent pregnancy. The findings also revealed a consensus among teachers and students that the teaching of sex/adolescent reproductive health (ARH) education is relevant in educating students to take informed decision about their sexual lives. Teachers and students were in favour of sex/ ARH education being introduced as a separate subject in the JHS in order to broaden the content of the subject, time and to create room for parents' involvement in school sex/ ARH education programmes. It was recommended that the social studies curriculum should be designed to meet the aspirations of student girls. The curriculum of sex/ ARH education should be enriched by focusing on biologic aspect of reproduction, values, attitudes, communication, negotiation and contraceptive use that would enable students to stand against the pressure for sex, adolescent pregnancy and STDs.