Alarming number of school girls drop out due to pregnancy

BY WANDILE TSHUMA

A recent National Assembly meeting  revealed a staggering statistic: 4557 school girls dropped out of school due to pregnancy in 2023 alone. The majority of these girls (3942) were from rural schools, and most were in secondary school.

Mutsa Murombedzi, MP for Mashonaland West, questioned the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Torerai Moyo, on the issue.

“The Ministry collects and collates such data on an annual basis and is recorded in our Education Management Information System (EMIS) report shared with all stakeholders. Therefore, for the year ending December, 2023, 4557 girls dropped out of school due to pregnancy, the majority of these (3 942) being from rural schools,” Minister Moyo revealed.

When asked about measures being taken to address the issue, Minister Moyo said, “We have instituted several measures to curb this problem, one of which is the introduction of Guidance and Counselling in schools. Through the Education Act, we have also ensured that the legal provisions are there to enable girls who fall pregnant to continue with their education.”

Minister Moyo also emphasized that the government is committed to ensuring that girls who fall pregnant can continue their education, citing the Education Amendment Act of 2020, which allows girls to take a two-week maternity leave and return to school.

“On the issue of stigma, we have done a lot of conscientisation and also, we have done a lot of dissemination of information in encouraging all the girls who fall pregnant. It is now their right to education, so they are supposed to go back to school,” Minister Moyo said.

When asked about the perpetrators, Minister Moyo assured the House that the law will take its course if the perpetrators are adults and the girls are under 18.

“Assuming the perpetrators are known and they are adults, the law will take its course. If there are circumstances whereby an elder or an adult male has had some relations with a girl and she becomes pregnant, if that girl is under the age of 18, the law will be applied.”