Over 7 500 pregnant pupils

More than 7 500 pregnant schoolgirls dropped out of school between 2014 and 2016.According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, almost 4 000 teenagers left school because of pregnancy last year, compared to 1 843 in 2015 and 1 797 in 2014.The Ohangwena Region recorded the highest number of teen pregnancies during this time at 1 552, followed by Omusati with 1 162 and Kavango East with 948. The //Karas Region reported the lowest figure of 100 during this period while Hardap recorded 187, Erongo 176, Khomas 280, Kunene 399 and Omaheke 245.Only 138 boys in the country left school because of teenage pregnancies over the last three years.Education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa says the ministry can no longer be held responsible and parents should explain how underage children manage to fall pregnant under their roofs. Hanse-Himarwa emphasises that the ministry is doing all it can to keep girls in school for the sake of their future. She says parents and guardians must be interrogated thoroughly.“It is very worrisome. If we want to eliminate these kinds of societal evils then we must get serious and implement more stringent measures. There is a need to form a more solid form with all stakeholders to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book – they must face the law,” says the minister. The revised education sector policy for the prevention and management of learner pregnancy states that teachers are required to adopt strategies to encourage the involvement of families and community members in prevention programmes. These strategies include soliciting input on ways to prevent learner pregnancy, providing opportunities for the exchange of information, inviting families and community members to workshops on pertinent issues, forming partnerships to expand healthy leisure activities in the community, and encouraging families and community members to discuss sexual relationships, and to support healthy lifestyles through positive role modelling. According to Hanse-Himarwa this will pave the way for communities to identify the perpetrators and ensure they are prosecuted. Culprits According to the Forum for African Women Educationalists Namibia (FAWENA) adult men known as “sugar daddies” are mainly responsible for these pregnancies and teenage girls are rarely impregnated by their peers. FAWENA coordinator and former child welfare minister Marlene Mungunda however points out that the available statistics do not reflect an accurate picture of teenage boys' involvement because boys only leave school when their girlfriends' parents demand it. Furthermore, she highlights that a large number of girls throughout the country are impregnated by relatives, in most cases uncles. These rapes almost always go unreported because the family wants to avoid the “shame”. “There are painful stories. In the Kavango regions you will see many girls commit suicide because they are rejected by their families because they have brought shame on the house. In the Zambezi Region that borders with so many countries the problem gets even worse because girls not only fall pregnant but are in most cases infected with HIV,” says Mungunda. The veteran politician emphasises that poverty is definitely the root cause of teenage pregnancy in in a county that not only grapples with a 34% unemployment rate but has been repeatedly documented as one of the most unequal societies in the world. “There are parents who encourage their girls to go for sugar daddies because of the monetary benefits. And you cannot judge them because they have no food in their homes,” she said. Bernardus Harageib, Lifeline/Childline counselling manager, agrees that adult men are the most common culprits. “There are an alarming number of adolescent girls that are being groomed by older men to be in relationships,” he says He adds that the current demographic of HIV/AIDS is “young and female” and that adolescent girls are at more risk, which has a direct impact on infection rates, which are abnormally high for this group. “The age disparities, sometimes up to ten years or more, between adolescent girls and their partners limit the negotiating power of girls and young women to negotiate safe sex,” Harageib argues.JEMIMA BEUKES

Over 7 500 pregnant pupils

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-15

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Over 7 500 pregnant pupils

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-15

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