Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha has issued new orders aimed at tracking school girls who may be pregnant or have just given birth. This follows a recent stern warning by President Uhuru Kenyatta, to Chiefs, over increased cases of teenage pregnancies in the country; more so during this covid-19 break.
The head of State read the riot act on Thursday, last week, at the KICC in Nairobi, at the close of a two-day training workshop on Kazi Mtaani for Regional and County Commissioners. He said area chiefs will be held accountable for school-going children who will defiled under their watch.
“You as the area chief will have to answer, where were you when all this was happening?” posed the president
“People must be disciplined, how do we allow people to go around impregnating young girls, and we do not say anything? We are going to wait for the DNA and those people will pay,” President Uhuru added.
CS Magoha |(who has been blaming pornographic sites and prolonged closure of schools for the surge in teenage pregnancies) has now ordered for immediate collection of data for affected school girls.
“”The media reports from different organizations indicate that there is a problem that need to be addressed and this is more so as it caught the attention of the President. The Ministry (of Education) therefore need to have information on the girls who have become pregnant during this season in order to come up with an intervention as schools re-open in January, 2021.” CS Magoha orders in the latest circular sent to Regional, County and Sub-county Directors of Education.
THOUSANDS OF SCHOOL GIRLS ARE EITHER PREGNANT OR YOUNG MOTHERS
Magoha orders the field officers to work closely with the local administration, chiefs, Ministry of Health Officials and School Heads so as to to get full information on the identity and location of the school girls.
The Ministry intends to use the data in order to prevent massive school drop outs when learning resumes next year.
A recent report compiled by the National Council on Population and Development (NCPD) painted a grim picture on the status of teenage pregnancies in the country. According to the report 2 out of 5 teenagers in Kenya are either young mothers or pregnant. The report further alludes that, during the current covid-19 pandemic, close to 20,828 girls aged between 10 and 14 years have become mothers while the older girls aged between 15-19 years, 24,106 are either pregnant or mothers already.
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