Teenage pregnancy has so far resulted in thousands of girls abandoning their education early and looking into early motherhood. Recently in Bungoma, a school principal demanded the expulsion of 20 pregnant girls from school. This has rekindled the controversial debate on whether pregnant schoolgirls should be allowed to stay in school or not.
The case also puts blame on many social vices within the communities like rape, broken families, inadequate sex education and peer pressure, among others. For a long time, educational institutions have not condoned issues of pregnancy within schools, thereby leading to suspension or the termination of the school program in general. However, Bungoma County Director Anyika states that the school principal acted against the law and the school girls should be admitted without delay.
This debate has further been woven around the issue of distributing condoms to schools, which is thought to encourage sexual behaviour at a young age. While some may say that sending the girls back to school would send the wrong message to the other children, girls’ right to education is also a crucial issue that needs to be handled with sensitivity.
Brenda Mageda is a psychologist by profession, with a biased stand towards women’s development and reproductive rights. When asked about her view:
“We do come from institutions that do not allow girls to be pregnant but do not teach and encourage them to prevent the pregnancy. Speaking up on sexual and reproductive health is seen to be a taboo. Presence of an adolescent girl getting pregnant in the community is also a taboo. She is ostracised. The girl child should be the key focus .This is a traumatic time for the girls. They should have instead, undergone pregnancy-crisis counselling and been encouraged. Instead they were discriminated and humiliated.”
Mageda also adds that a lack of comprehensive sex education in the schools leads to such treatment of adolescent girls. Therefore, instead of chasing- thus punishing- the pregnant girls who could be underage , the principal should also seek to find the men who are responsible for the girls pregnancy.
She also points out that some countries in Africa have positively embraced the situation.
“In Sierra Leone, they have introduced formal education for pregnant girls and lactating mothers.This has reduced the number of girls not accessing formal education due to negative cultural practices.”
However, asked whether the move to distribute condoms to schools was a positive one Brenda says:
“Condom introduction in school setups is only effective if we have open-honest conversations on sex. Sexuality education should be key in all learning institutions, taught by an unbiased facilitator, who will give accurate information on sex and reproductive health. If not, it will be retrogressive.”
As the debate goes on on what should be done right or wrong, we hope that both the government and social and educational institutions will meet on a level ground to decide on the well-being of the girl-child.
