Shock as nine school girls are impregnated in three months’ time

Nine school girls of Matutu Secondary in Nyamira County have been found to be pregnant. [Photo: Stanley Ongwae, Standard]

Education officials are investigating how nine girls from Matutu PAG Mixed Secondary School all became pregnant in the past three months.

Monday, the Standard visited the school and spoke to some of the effected girls, one of who has already given birth.

“I just don’t know how it happened. It was a first attempt and now I am pregnant,” Nancy (Not her real name) said.

She had attended a youth camp at Ichuni Parish in Keroka when she met another male student with whom she had a single sexual encounter which would lead to the pregnancy.

It was an attempt which she says was senseless.

She doesn’t remember the teenage boy with whom she slept the event that took place during the December holidays.

She says the only thing she remembers is that the boy told her he was a student from a top national school in Kisii County.

“Even if I met him today, I may not remember his face well because we met at night,” she says.

The school’s principal Mr Charles Osoro said the cases which were spread across all classes in the institution had been confirmed.

 Nancy’s four colleagues are in Form One; two in Form Two; two in Form One and one in Form Four.

 The school has a total population of 307 students with girls making a larger population of around 180.

 The institution has boarding facilities for learners, but those affected are day scholars.

 The principal says Joyce (not real name), one of the four Form One students is going to give birth, “She joined our school when she was already pregnant. She is now at home waiting to deliver while another one also from the same class has already given birth.”

According to Mr Osoro, the seven girls who are in school have been undergoing counseling therapy as they continue with learning.

 “We have intensified counseling on them and even encouraged them that they should never give up even with the situations which befell them. We will continue to support them until when they go to deliver and allow them to pick from where they left once they have given birth,” Osoro said.

The nine cases are a confirmation of the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey of 2014 (KDHS) which puts Nyanza Region on the top spot in teenage pregnancies.

According to the report, one out of four teenage girls between age 15 and 19 in Nyanza have given birth with most of them dropping their education to continue with motherhood.

This translates to around 22 per cent of the young generation of girls. The figure is higher than the National average of 18 per cent.

The cases have triggered reactions from different stakeholders with the County Director of Education Mr Nelson Sifuna saying investigations into the crisis were underway.

“The cases are an indication that there is something wrong and we are trying to find it through our investigations,” Sifuna said.

The principal blames parents for abdicating their roles of counseling their daughters as well as imparting in them life skills that can enable them to avoid bad traps.

“All the girls who have question marks are day scholars. Their parents are at better positions of guiding their children on matters of morality than us because they live with them,” Osoro argues.

He said prior investigations he has conducted pointed at villagers as possible owners of the pregnancies.

Nyamira Women Representative Jerusha Momanyi said her office will look into strengthening the ambitions of the affected girls by offering proper psychosocial guidance as well as encouraging them to continue with education after giving birth.

However, even with the pregnancy, Nancy says she will remain focused to realize her ambition of becoming a nurse.

“My mother has already assured me that she will take care of my baby as I return to school to continue with my studies,” Nancy says.