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Nana Ogyedom Tsetsewa I, the Mankralo of Gomoa Ogyan in the Central Region, says parents should not shy away from educating their children on sex because it is not a taboo.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Tema, Nana Tsetsewa said the belief of some parents that it was against the Ghanaian cultural norms to discuss sex with their children was wrong.

“Sexuality education is not a taboo in our traditional system,” she emphasized.

She said the inability of parents to be the first people to introduce the topic to their children had led to their seeking answers on sex from peers and other questionable sources.

According to Nana Tsetsewa, who is also an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) practitioner, educating a child does not only cover reading and writing but also involved sex education and other life-related issues.

She said when children were educated on sex at home, it would enable them to take informed decisions to help reduce the high rate of teenage pregnancies. 

Nana Tsetsewa said with sex education, children, especially adolescents, would strive to reach their academic and career goals instead of engaging in sexual activities at a younger age.

“Children end up giving birth at a tender age which makes their dream of becoming better persons soon shattered,” she said.

She urged parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, and other stakeholders to help shape the children morally, adding that many children were going wayward due to parental neglect.

The Mankralo of Gomoa Ogyan noted that most girls might be going through some emotional and sexual-related issues but could not speak about them and urged the stakeholders, especially parents and teachers, to get close to them to unravel such problems early.

Touching on child marriages, she advised parents to desist from marrying off their young daughters at tender ages as a way of solving their financial burdens.