By John Majau
A total of 233 candidates sitting for Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams in Meru County this year are pregnant with three of them doing the exams from the labour wards.
“Up to now only three have delivered or admitted for delivery and taking exams from the hospital,” Meru Director of Education Milton Nzioka said.
Meru has been on the 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 quoted 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.
A recent crackdown by local administrators nabbed two Class Seven pupils from Irindie village in Igembe North who were found to have lived together as husband and wife for three days.
Ntunene area Chief Mburugu Matumbi blamed it on poor parenting and negligence of guardians on whereabouts of their children
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