School girls in the country have been reminded to guard themselves
against following peer pressure groups which may lead them into early
marriages and pregnancies.
Education is a basic right and girls have the opportunity of
completing their studies no matter their circumstances. But if girls are
keen to complete their studies well they should stay away from peer
pressure groups because they have the ability to do so.
Further Temeke District Commissioner Sophia Mjema said currently
many students are dropping out of school due to situations which can be
prevented by students themselves
“I know there are many challenges facing students due to physical
and psychological changes, but it is your responsibility to control your
changes so that you cannot affect your future,” Mjema said.
Mjema made the remarks recently in Dar es Salam during the closure
of reproductive health seminar prepared by Women Development Foundation
(WAMA) for secondary school students and teachers.
However, she said addressing teen pregnancy prevention requires
broad efforts that involve families, service providers, schools, faith
and community-based organisations, recreation centres, policymakers and
youth.
She said together with the support from the government and various
organisations to fight against early pregnancies, students themselves
have to use their head thinking on how they can escape from that.
“You will have nobody to blame if you will not know how to respect yourselves and take care of your bodies,” she insisted.
Communications officer for WAMA Philomena Marijani said the seminar
is the continuation of ‘Jilinde, Timiza Ndoto Yako’ programme that
started last year. The programme aims at educating and remind students
especially girls on their reproductive health.
“Many girls fail to achieve their goals due to various temptations
which come along their ways but they have to be aware that protection
starts with them, if they can not guard themselves then the efforts
conducted will be useless,” Marijani said.
She said it is important for girls’ students to respect their dreams and work for them to become prosperous women in future.
The seminar covered peer relationship, traditions affecting
reproductive health for young people and reproductive health education
in schools and health centres, sexuality, life skills, the concept of
advice and counseling, education of STDs and AIDS through prevention,
early pregnancies and time management.
Last year First Lady, Salma Kikwete challenged parents in Tanzania
to complement teachers’ efforts in providing reproductive health
education to school girls in an effort to curb early marriages and child
pregnancies.
The First lady, who is also the Chairperson of Women and
Development Foundation (WAMA), made the remarks when launching a new
campaign dubbed ‘Jilinde Utimize Ndoto Yako’.
She said parents should know that they have a role in addressing
child pregnancies at a family level through talking and teaching their
girls on reproductive health matters.
“Majority of the parents have left this big task to teachers
without knowing that they are also responsible,” the first lady noted.
“Child pregnancies and early marriages can be controlled if parents
are fully engaged in educating the girls…this can be done by talking
and giving them tips on maternal health,” she added.
She said it is important for the girls to know their value in society and to also plan who they want to be in future.
“Girls need to be told clearly that they don’t have to engage in sexual relations while at school,” she said.
In Tanzania, 13 per cent of girls under the age of 15 are already engaged in sexual relations, according to statistics.
According to the Ministry of Health, teenage pregnancies and
deliveries are among the country’s worst challenges accounting for more
than half (55 per cent) of total deliveries in 2012.
She said the challenge is much bigger in rural areas than it is in urban centres.
For her part, Engender Health Technical Director Feddy Mwanga
noted that 53 per cent of children aged 19 years get pregnant every
year. He said the occurrence disrupts their future because they are then
forced to drop from school.
She said that situation has contributed to the increase of
premature babies due to the fact that the young girl’s reproductive
organs are not matured enough to carry a baby.
She said the organisation has managed to increase the number of
youths accessing maternal health education from 30 per cent on 2009 up
to 80 per cent this year.
Mwanga detailed that they will continue providing support and
giving maternal health education in every school across Dar es Salaam as
a way of fighting against early pregnancies.
Speaking at the same occasion, Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner
Said Meck Sadiki said Dar es Salaam, as many other cities in the
country, faces high school drop rates due to early pregnancies.
Sadiki noted that statistics from the Ministry of Health and Social
Welfare show the number of child pregnancies in Dar es Salaam Region
increased from 11,419 in 2012 up to 21,042 in 2013.
He said like many other African countries, Tanzania is struggling
with providing equal education for their girls and because there is a
lack of education in the community, girls end up suffering much more
than the boys.
The Regional Commissioner added that “At the same time that
Tanzania is working to improve educational access as a fundamental human
right to all, it must also actively engage all its citizens in changing
attitudes regarding women and girls. They should at least be made aware
that they can continue with their studies if they were to get pregnant
instead of fully dropping out.”
He also noted that according the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA) research for 2013, Tanzania is among countries with highest
number of early pregnancy cases citing 13 per cent of women in the
country were sexually harassed before reaching eighteen years of age.
“Statistics show that for every I million women who conceive, 23
percent conceive before reaching eighteen years of age,” the health
ministry official conceded and noted that UNFPA has warned that the
number of girls affected with early pregnancy is still increasing with
every 10 women, four being victims of teen pregnancy a situation blamed
on poverty,” he noted.
Tanzania has a problem of high teenage pregnancy rates. Over 44
percent of Tanzanian girls have given birth or are pregnant by the age
of 19. It also has one of the world’s lowest rates of transition of both
girls and boys from primary to secondary school, at 36 percent.
A national survey in 2009 found that almost a third of Tanzanian
girls who had sex before the age of 18 said that it was against their
will.
According to the survey, almost 40 percent of the girls who
experienced sexual violence said they were attacked either on the way to
or from school or while at school. Perpetrators included teachers who
sometimes traded sex for grades, bus conductors and taxi drivers.
All of these challenges to girls will be reduced if girls
themselves put to be strong and finding ways on how they can escape
especially on the matter of peer groups in schools which seen as one of
the factors.SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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