By D. Abraham Cooper
March 28,2026
The administration at the Toe Memorial Institute in Grand Gedeh County has issued an urgent plea for community intervention following a troubling trend of teenage pregnancies that school officials say is disrupting the learning environment and threatening the future of female students.
Speaking during a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting on Friday, March 27, 2026, the school’s assigned counselor, Cllr. Lucy S. Smith, expressed “serious concern” over the statistics.
She revealed that the institution has already recorded 13 pregnant students in the current academic year, a figure that closely follows the 15 cases reported during the previous school year.
Addressing a crowded school auditorium, Cllr. Smith emphasized that the burden of discipline and guidance cannot rest solely on the school’s shoulders. She urged parents to take a more proactive role in their children’s lives and specifically addressed the spread of misinformation regarding reproductive health.
”We must stop misleading our children by suggesting that family planning methods are dangerous,” Smith stated, noting that such myth often prevents teenagers from seeking the protection or advice they need to avoid unplanned pregnancies.
The school’s principal, Mr Patrick Kollie, supported the counselor’s alarm, highlighting the practical difficulties instructors face when managing high numbers of pregnant students. He noted that the emotional volatility associated with pregnancy often leads to friction between students and staff.
”We are calling on parents to support us,” Mr. Kollie added. “It becomes incredibly difficult to manage certain behaviors without a unified front between the home and the school.”
Both Smith and Kollie concluded the meeting by calling for a “collective intervention” involving parents, faculty, and community leaders to provide better sex education and emotional support for students.
The school administration hopes that by addressing the root causes and debunking health myths, they can stabilize the student population and ensure that education remains the primary focus.
