Handling teenage girls has always been a problem because most of them cannot separate their left from their right. As minors, they interact with the opposite sex inappropriately without being aware of the consequences.
Some adults claim that young women go after them.  A lot of havoc has occurred where female teenagers are impregnated by either their teachers or neighbours.
It is worrisome to see a female child being impregnated by unknown person despite all the expenses on that young woman’s education. That kind of situation can ruin the girl’s future if not properly handled.
Many parents at one time or the other have raised alarm about harassment of their children but became helpless when unwanted pregnancies occur. Many are of the view that such scenarios should be discouraged.
A school teacher, Marian Udoh, said that charity begins at home and that parents should start teaching their female children from the age of two. She noted that parents should inculcate in the children the habit of opposite sex of same parents not bathing together.
She said that due to the intelligence exhibited by children of nowadays, that it is important to teach them the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’.
She maintained that the teaching should be balanced in a way that while you teach the female children about inappropriate advances and attitudes, the schools should also stress that good behaviour should be imbibed in children.
According to her, churches should not be left out in teaching and inculcating good morals into the children.
Mrs Udoh advised that parents should be proactive in dealing with inappropriate interaction with teenage girls.
A pharmacist, Ike Maxwell, said that conversation between a tutor and a school girl should end in the class and that after class hours, it should just end at exchanging greetings.
He recalled that while in his place of primary assignment during the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), some of the school girls made advances to him but he resisted and became friendly with a female Corp member.
A teacher, Monday Gom, said parents should be able to educate teenagers on the consequences of making advances to males.  He said even when some of his female students harassed him, he never fell into their hands since he was aware of the consequences.
According to him, any interaction between a student and a tutor should be in the staff room where other teachers are present and not in enclosed environment.
He said a situation where a teacher and a student are found in enclosed environment, there is the likelihood of any form of harassment.  He said, school managers should keep their eyes on teachers especially in crowded schools.
His words: “Adults should not take advantage of the naive nature of some of the minors and so look out for where there are many ladies.”
Mr Loveday Okocha asked: “What about the female parents?” He said the home where the parents reside should be the breeding ground where the parents should teach the girl-child the dos and don’ts.
He described the home as the starting point and platform where the mother is the head, who should teach the girls what is right.
At home level, she said parents should be able to know what girls need since that is where everything germinates as the kind of communication amongst them matters a lot.
According to him, schools should engage counsellors, who from time to time teach the girls what to do and it takes God-fearing teachers to resist such offers from teenagers.
A legal practitioner, Mike Oghenedo, said nothing can be done as far as the law is there to checkmate.  He said the present generation is one in which the children have been taught to be outspoken.
He said instead of attaining age 18, which is the consent age, teenagers nowadays start expressing themselves below the age and wondered why the senior ones who are more mature and know the law, who may not want to be imprisoned, who know that the future is brighter and take better decisions, still misbehave.
As he puts it: “The tendencies are there before some of the minors turn 18”.
A public servant, Amos Joe, said apart from parents, uncles and aunts should also speak the truth to the young ones.
In his word: “When your conscience is dirty, you are defeated and have nothing to say”.
He recalled an African adage which says that “it takes a whole community to raise a child”.  He advised that uncles should interact with the teenagers at home so that when they are outside, they know what to say or do and stressed that the female children should be equipped with the right information.
A head teacher, Mary Igwe, said parents should be involved in the process because as a parent, you know how the child relates with the teacher.
She suggested that schools should domesticate laws that will punish school teachers who may have unnecessary intimacy with students.
Her words: “School managers should advise pupils and students in the devotion every morning on how to relate with teachers”.
When we talk about inappropriate interaction, it is just discipline on the part of the bigger person.  Interaction can take place depending on the topic and there should be limit to it.  Parents should not be careless about their girl-children.
Some responsible  teachers over time have complained about female students harassing them and that at the end of the day, they got it hot.
Apart from legislation and laws, reduction of inappropriate interaction amongst teenagers and minors seems to be difficult but there are things that should be done to curb it.
Teachers should communicate with students on academics in schools and up to their houses.
Parents should be close to their daughters and monitor them so that they can open up when they are molested.
Years back, it was hard to see teenagers being molested or harassed by school managers as some of them married their school girls on a normal ground unlike these days.
Really, it is worrisome to see and hear that a girl in a high school was allegedly harassed and impregnated by a man who may not get her married at the end of the day.
Since parents cannot know and see what their wards do always, they should have close relationship with their children at home while school operators continue to sensitise minors in schools day by day.

By: Eunice Choko-Kayode