By John Majau.
Meru County has reported a worrying surge of teen pregnancies among School going girls.
According to data released by Meru County Commissioner’s office 200 primary school girls have been reported to be pregnant.
Additionally, 400 Secondary school girls have been confirmed to be pregnant in various high schools in Meru County.
Raising the alarm over the impending crisis, Meru County Commissioner Karuku Ngumo said the reported cases are a threat to pursuit of education by the affected girls.
“This shows the lives of these girls is at stake and they may fail to complete their education. This has been a problem affecting development of our community,” said Mr Ngumo.
Ngumo cited cases reported in March this year during Kenya Certificate of Secondary School (KCSE) and Kenya Certificate of Primary School (KCPE) exams where 47 candidates were pregnant.
“43 KCSE candidates gave birth while 4 girls sat for their KCPE exams in labor wards,” noted Ngumo.
Expressing concern over the surging teen pregnancy cases the County Commissioner warned of poverty due to school dropouts.
Mr. Ngumo blamed parents for the prevailing crisis.
“I know there was Covid-19 challenge and children overstayed at home but parents should not forget their parental responsibilities,” he said.
The County boss called on parents to be watchful over their children during the holidays.
“Keep the children busy by engaging them in positive activities such as church events, giving them assignments and counselling,” noted Ngumo.
The Commissioner vowed to partner with Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi in seeking ways to sensitize the learners against early pregnancies.
“When a girl is educated the whole society benefits and this is a reason for us to partner with the governor and various stakeholders in creating awareness to them,” he said.
He noted that some cases of teen pregnancies are as a result of defilement but warned of arrest and prosecution of perpetrators.
“Police officers are dealing with cases of defilement and no perpetrator will go scot free. The only challenge is when school teens engage in sexual activity. However the law dictate the legal age to sexual activities,” Mr. Ngumo said.
Meru has been on spot over high cases of teen pregnancies.
According to data from the health department, 14,573 girls aged between 10 and 19 years were impregnated in Meru County in 2020. Out of these, 1,328 were aged between 10 and 14 years and 13,245 were 15 to 19 years old, pointing to high prevalence of defilement in the county.
Imenti North recorded the highest number of teen pregnancies with 378 cases followed by Igembe Central, 375 cases and Imenti South 318 cases.
Leaders from the region have been citing parental negligence as the cause of the surging teen pregnancies.
Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi was recorded some months ago calling for communal responsibility in protecting child rights.
“As a Njuri Ncheke elder, I will seek the support of the council in raising awareness and helping in reducing cases of child abuse. It is unfortunate that some of the acts are done by mature men. This is against the Meru culture,” Mr Murungi said.
