The Central Regional Department of Gender has opened a four-day mentorship programme to educate adolescent girls on adolescent sexual reproductive rights.

The event, which took place in Cape Coast in the Central Region, was attended by teachers and 130 teenage girls who represented the various basic schools in the Region.

They were drawn from Upper Denkyira, Assin North, Cape Coast, Twifo Hemang and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA).

Mrs Thywill Kpe, the Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, said the programme would educate adolescent girls on the need to abstain from early sex to avoid teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

It was in collaboration with Ghana Education Service funded by United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA).

Mrs. Kpe said the face to face interaction with the adolescent girls was an opportunity for the Department of Gender to discover issues that affected their studies, which often led to school dropout among many teenage girls.

The Director said the Department would mentor the girls in and out of school to enable them pursue higher goals for themselves, their families and society.

She urged parents to properly cater for their wards and said the lack of proper parental care often exposed teenage girls to unnecessary peer influence.

Mrs Cynthia Morrison, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, called on teenage girls to desist from practices that could harm their reproductive wellbeing in future.

Madam Morrison noted that with discipline and hard work, adolescent girls could pursue education to higher heights just like their male counterparts.