Adults who influence early marriages and teenage pregnancies will be arrested and face the law because they are violating children’s rights.
Nyatike Constituency MP Tom Odege, who spoke at Modi Primary School, blamed fathers who spent most of their time fishing and lacked time to share with their growing daughters, who miss a father figure in the home and go to seek it from other people, who end up preying on them sexually.
“These people take advantage of our Innocent girls who trust them and endanger their lives through body intimacies that lead to early pregnancies and consequent school dropout,” he said.
The MP said that the government uses a lot of money to support education development by improving infrastructure, reading materials and the introduction of feeding programmes in schools, but regretted that all these will go to waste unless parents take active roles to reinforce the effort of teachers to influence their children to love education.
During the occasion, marked by the presence of many church choirs and traditional songs, Odege launched six new classrooms financed through NG-CDF funds.
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“Today, we launch six classrooms and floor-renovated ones to enhance the good learning environment for our children,” he said.
Margaret Adhiambo, a community health worker, advised parents to encourage their daughters to return to school after giving birth to improve their lives.
“Tell your daughters that giving birth to children is not the end of the road of education; there is always a second chance for success if it is seized and used wisely,” she said.
She told young mothers that obtaining a good education can lead to better job opportunities and higher salary earning potential, helping them sustain their children.
Odhiambo emphasised that when teen mothers return to school to acquire beneficial knowledge, they provide models for their children to pursue education to avoid the vicious circle of underage pregnancies and poverty.
She cautioned area Chiefs and their Assistants against holding kangaroo courts for suspects who defiled pupils and curtailed their learning opportunities.
By Enock Okong’o.
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