High Number Of Teenage Mothers Causes Alarm Among Legislators

A section of Narok Members of County Assembly (MCA) has raised concern over the high number of teenage mothers sitting for the national examination in the county.

This is after the office of County Commissioner announced that some 248 girls; 140 being in primary school and 108 in secondary school were among the candidates sitting for their national examination in the county.

The MCAs called on parents to take the parental role of guiding their girls during this holiday so that they do not engage in retrogressive cultural practices that affect their education.

Led by the County Assembly majority leader Dominic Lemain, the MCAs blamed the parents for not taking their role seriously, asking them to spend quality time with their children during this holiday.

“Retrogressive culture like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and teenage pregnancies take our society behind. We need to shun these practices and embrace modernity,” he said.

Lemain who is also the Ololulunga MCA called on churches and other institutions to also help in guiding and counseling the girls so that they cannot engage in early pregnancies.

He reiterated that the parents should be the young children’s mentors to show them the way and act as role models instead of the children spending a lot of time with people who do not add value to their lives.

Mogondo MCA Kipsang Mibei lamented that a big number of children were dropping out of school because of retrogressive culture yet the government pumps a lot of money in terms of bursary as school fees to the children.

He wondered what had gone wrong with the current generation saying the high trend of teenage pregnancies was worrying in the county.

“As leaders, we will sit down and do a thorough research to establish why our county is always ranked top in teenage pregnancies,” he said.

“We want to know whether it is the long distances between the schools and the homes or is it because of poor upbringing of the children?” said Mibei.

Nkaretta MCA Nkalua Kuyioni advised the parents not to allow their children to go in night-out events like discos and night prayers where they could easily be deceived to engage in sex.

He said as a County Assembly, they will draft bills that will help to reduce the teenage pregnancies and help the already affected girls.

During this year’s National examination, 248 girls will be sitting for the exams while pregnant, with 140 being in primary and 108 in secondary.