Pregnancies end educational dreams of 170 girls

LUDOVICK KAZOKA in Dodoma

SOME 165 girls have for the past three years dropped out of secondary schools due to pregnancies in Mpwapwa District, according to District Education Officer (DEO) Leonard Msigwa.

Mr Msigwa, speaking at the launch of Children’s Dignity Forum (CDF) organised committee to protect girls from teenage pregnancies in the district, said the statistics were based on cases reported between January 2015 and March this year.

He said the figure might be bigger as other girls did not report their pregnancies after dropping out of schools, citing an example 39 pregnancy related dropouts between last January and March. The DEO pointed out that 15 girls had dropped out from secondary schools due to pregnancies in 2015, 42 girls in 2016 and 69 cases of the school dropout were reported in 2017.

“I appeal to education stakeholders to join hands with the government to curb teenage pregnancies to enable girls finish their studies,” he observed. Mr Msigwa noted that parents and guardians have become a hindrance for his office to take action against the culprits of teenage pregnancies by referring to the Law of Marriage Act of 1971 to sort out the cases with the culprits of teenage pregnancies.

“The law permits 15 year-old girls to get marriage under consent of parents and guardians,” he observed. On his part, Head of Operations at CDF, Mr Evance Rwamuhuru, said the main goal to set up the committee to protect girls from teenage pregnancies, which will be under local governments, was to curb the problem and enable the young ladies to complete their studies.

He urged parents and guardians of dropout girls to cooperate with security organs to arrest the culprits and subject them to legal actions.

Mr Rwamuhuru noted that the war against teenage pregnancies was facing serious challenge from the girls’ parents and guardians who most often opt to sort out the matter with the culprits instead of reporting them to the law enforcing organs.

Resident Magistrate in Charge of Mpwapwa District Court, Ms Nuruprudensia Nassari, said some victims of teenage pregnancy were reluctant to accord the security organs cooperation despite their parents and guardians dragging their partners to court.