Mike Mwaniki
23 July 2008
Nairobi — Up to ten pupils became pregnant in one school last year. And residents of one area in Nyanza are angry, with a local councillor saying this was the cause of the high drop out rates.
"My conscience cannot allow me to keep quiet any more as our children continue to drop out of school year after year," he said while releasing a list of ten girls who have fallen victims.
According to the councillor, the girls in of the school in Homa Bay District have been impregnated by teachers and people close to the them. He described the school as a den of immorality and accused local education officials of sleeping on the job.
One teacher has been responsible for impregnating four of the girls, charged the councillor, waving the list of pupils and those alleged to have impregnated them. He said the list was forwarded to him by a member of the school management committee whois disappointed that nothing is being done. One pupil was in Standard Four, he said.
The councillor wants action taken against those who have ruined the lives of the girls. Some of the girls, he said, had ended up in premature marriages while others were at home either nursing their babies or pregnancies.
Acting district education officer Cosmas Kimatuni denied knowledge of such a report. "It's you who is now alerting us about the same. Give me time to also carry out an independent investigation on the matter," said Mr. Kimatuni.
Ndhiwa district officer Ronald Mwiwawi has admitted that cases of pregnancies among pupils and students in primary and secondary schools in the area persisted despite interventions. "I've personally gone out during public barazas and education days preaching against pregnancies among schoolgirls', he said.
Mr Mwiwawi blamed parental negligence. "Most parents have refused to play their rightful roles and do not even bother to offer guidance to their daughters and sons," he said.
The DO is however categorical that those implicated in such evil acts would not go scot free.
A Catholic priest, the Rev George Kizito, who is from the area, termed the situation as unfortunate. The long serving Homa Bay Catholic's diocesan education secretary wants action taken. "If the girls have named those who impregnated them then action should be taken," he said.
He said chiefs also needed to play their rightful roles by discouraging immorality in their areas of jurisdiction.
And pregnancies among school going girls is not the preserve of primary pupils in Homa Bay.
During an Education Day at St Philip's Wayaga Mixed Secondary School in Riana Division recently, principal John Ogeke expressed alarm at the rate of dropouts among girls in his school due to pregancies.
Giving statistics during the function in which Kuria West education officer William Kamguna was the chief guest, Mr Ogeke said the school lost three girls last term to pregnancies.
He added that this term, there were fears that two more girls were on the way out because of pregnancies.
And Kisumu district parents association coordinator Jackson Ogweno described the situation as grave and called on the ministry to take stern action. "The government investigate the matter," he said. He says that a part from the sack, such teachers should also charged so that they take over the responsibilities they have placed on the young girls.
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Read comments. Write your own.
