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Nineteen girls in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region who sat the 2013 Basic Education Certificate Education (BECE) were pregnant when they wrote the examination. The Development Facilitator of World Vision Ghana (WVG), Ms Dziedzorm Awude, said this during sensitization programmes to curb teenage pregnancies including drug abuse and early marriages in the District. She said given the magnitude of the problem her outfit, in collaboration with Rural Initiatives for Self Empowerment (RISE-GHANA), had started sensitization programmes to curb teenage pregnancies and other social vices. Ms Awude said her outfit, through broad stakeholder consultations, identified social issues such as teenage pregnancy, child marriage, drug abuse and children attending film shows in the night as major causes of the poor quality of education delivery in the area. The two NGOs are fighting the menace through the Department of Social Welfare with the support from assembly men for the area in about eight communities where the menace is high. The communities include Yameriga, Sheiga, Wakii, Kpungour, Yamsuuk, Kaare, Kpatia and Tongo. As part of the sensitization programmes the NGOs showed films depicting the devastating effects of teenage pregnancies, drug abuse and early marriages. The Assemblyman for the Yemeriga Electoral Area, Mr Edward Putota, lauded WVG for the numerous interventions including the provision of boreholes and supporting women in the area to form credit schemes. The Programme Manager of RISE-GHANA, Mr Ahmed Awal, said some of the programmes it would undertake to fight the phenomenon would include talks and symposiums, adding that � the problem is not limited to the District alone but in the other districts of the Region.�