International Journal of Arts and Humanities

Minimizing Teenage Pregnancy Using Traditional Music and Dance.

Abstract

Accepted 2^nd January, 2018.

The upsurge of teenage pregnancy in schools poses a threat to the future academic performance of pupils and facilitates the youth into potential sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and other negative health and behavioural consequences. This may be due to the exposure to social media and other unfavourable environmental factors. The role of music and dance in rejiggereing some of these social problems in schools is invaluable. This paper is the result of a study carried out under the auspices of the GIFTED project, Ghana, investigates the extent to which the utility of Music and Dance could reduce the occurrence of teenage pregnancy among the pupils of Abenfa Junior High School. The research question that guided the study was how would teenage pregnancy be reduced in the schools using Music and Dance? Case study was the research design and respondents for the study were derived by purposive and snowball sampling. Focus group discussions, interviews and observation were used to collect the data for the study. The data was then segmented into analytical units and coded with descriptive words which were thematically analyzed according to the objectives of the study. Findings indicated that Music and Dance is an effective tool to humanize the school curriculum and reduce teenage pregnancy that hangs over the pupils of Abenfa Junior High School. The paper concludes, among other suggestions, that music and dance ensembles should be established in schools found susceptible to teenage pregnancy and promiscuity.

Keywords: teenage pregnancy, music and dance, GIFTED, Abenfa, Africa Foundation, STDs