Concern as 67 girls drop out of school due to pregnancy
What you need to know:
- Of these girls, 61 were in secondary school while the remaining were from primary schools.
- Dodoma District Commissioner Christine Mndeme said such affairs, to a large extent, were derailing efforts to scale-up performance in the education sector in the municipality. “It’s very frustrating to realize that just while the government is relocating its headquarters here, the number of impregnated school children is also going up,” she said.
Dodoma. A total of 67 primary and secondary school girls in Dodoma Municipality were found to be pregnant between August and early February.
Of these girls, 61 were in secondary school while the remaining were from primary schools.
Dodoma District Commissioner Christine Mndeme said such affairs, to a large extent, were derailing efforts to scale-up performance in the education sector in the municipality. “It’s very frustrating to realize that just while the government is relocating its headquarters here, the number of impregnated school children is also going up,” she said.
Ms Mndeme made the sad revelation here last week when presenting a special report pertaining to achievements and challenges facing various sectors in the her area of jurisdiction before the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliamentary, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled), Ms Jenista Mhagama.
She said most of the victimized girls were aged between 13 and 16, adding: “We can no longer tolerate seeing the future of such young and ambitious girls being ruined by some unscrupulous adults,” she observed.
However, she said her office, in cooperation with the regional education office and the police, would launch a special crackdown to try and end the problem, including taking to task those who put schoolgirls in the family way. “Parents and society at large must be at the forefront of cooperating with the authorities in fighting against this scourge,” she advised.
She also directed headteacher and headmasters to educate their students over the importance of education and why they need to avoid engaging in sex.
