Why majority of teenage parents fail to complete studies

Diana Maina spends quality time with her son. [File, Standard] The lack of coordination among players in the education sector has been identified as a major challenge hindering re-entry of adolescent mothers and fathers back to school. This is according to a study review released on Friday, highlighting the blockades against integration of young mothers and fathers to class, preventing them from completing their education and consequently killing their life ambitions. The review was unveiled during a roundtable breakfast meeting that brought together the Ministry of Education, organisations such as Zamara Foundation, Africa Centre for Reproductive Rights and Nyanza Initiative for Girls (NIGEE) and some of the teenage parents. It emerged that limited clarity on how actors including teachers, parents, guardians, and schools should be involved in the implementation of a 2020 policy that should ensure smooth transition for re-entering learners. Similarly, the survey conducted last year, also discovered that coordination between schools and health facilities is weak. This, the researchers observed, despite the essential role of healthcare facilities in addressing the physical and psychological needs of adolescent mothers. Another issue, the report highlighted involved unsustainable government resourcing as there is insufficient investment in infrastructure such as childcare facilities, lactation rooms and psychological support services within schools. They argued that without structured funding, burden of implementation is shifted to schools and communities, exacerbating inequalities in access to education for teenage parents. Asha Kimani, who became a teen mother at age 16 and attended the forum, agreed with the findings, saying that she endured stigmatisation that plunged her into depression, putting her on the verge of committing suicide. "They school I got readmitted into adopted me but when they had that I'm a mother, they would question why a 'small girl is mother," she recounted. "Teachers would mock me, 'mbona ulikimbilia maisha haraka (why did you have a hurry with life)' and my fellow students would laugh at me criticising me "a mother learning with children," added Kimani. "That really traumatised me but I had to keep pushing." She said was inspired by the desire to become an advocate to champion for the rights of other teen mothers undergoing the same predicaments Danvas Onyiego who became a teen father at 17 while in form three said: "You are being discriminated. You are being told that you a man you have to hustle. "And because there are no job opportunities, it was hard. The mother had to relocate to the village. Even my fiends abandoned me." They urged the government adopt the comprehensive sexual education and champion for sensitisation involving the players and the affected teenager, even as they called on their peers not to "give up." According to the study, about 30 per cent of teachers have zero knowledge on the existence of the policy and guidelines informing the re-entry to school for the adolescents parents. Further, it indicates that 60 per cent of those who are aware did not have a copy of the document, raising concerns on the effectiveness of the implantation towards ensuring 100 per cent re-entry for the affected learners. The head of school health department within MoE, Elizabeth Otieno, acknowledged that most of these challenges are cultural and within the socio-economic sector. "Poverty, teen marriages, early pregnancies and all these aspects undermine the ability to go to school," she said, noting that the government is employing various strategies to address the concerns. "We are working very closely with partners, so we are strengthening our collaborations. And we are also going to reach out to schools, incorporate field officials, county directors of education, regional directors of education." she stated. Wambui Kimani of Zamara Foundation raised concerns over what she termed as lack of data that prevents action from players. "We don't have the system to be able to track so that we know the magnitude of the problem that would then inform strategies to address the problem," she said, urging the government to strengthen policies. "There is need to scale up primary data collecting to provide concrete evidence of the gaps identified in legal and policy analyses," she said.

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