Kenya: Students to take pregnancy tests

August 10th, 2009

 

 

Nairobi (Kenya) - Schoolgirls will soon be encouraged to undergo voluntary pregnancy tests once a term.

On suspicion of pregnancy, the school is to inform the girl’s parents or guardians and have the student undergo a medical examination.

Schools which record high incidents of teenage pregnancies will be investigated and action taken. This is according to new guidelines released by the ministries of Public Health and Basic Education.

“On confirmation of a pregnancy, the girl should be allowed to continue with classes. The student should be supported to complete her current class or form and on importance of continuing with education after delivery,” read the new rules.

Speaking during their launch at a Nairobi hotel on Wednesday, Public Health minister Beth Mugo said teenage girls were at the greatest risk of dropping out of school due to early marriages and pregnancy. Education minister Sam Ongeri said the ministry had established a unit to coordinate health programmes in schools.

According to the Federation of African Women Educationists, dropout rates due to teenage pregnancies stand at four per cent nationally. FAWE national coordinator Pamela Apiyo told the Nation that the rate had been on the decline although an increase was noted in areas affected by the post-election violence last year.

In the new guidelines, the student should also be supported to make at least four visits to an ante-natal clinic.

The schools are to find out the circumstances of the pregnancy and the father of the child, and action taken against him in collaboration with a children’s officer.

Teachers will also be required to facilitate the student to breast feed the child exclusively for six months. The student should be allowed to go back to school where she left off, and the school administration is charged with protecting her from mockery and ridicule from her colleagues.

Other guidelines include the ban of tobacco and alcohol advertisements near schools and construction of private kiosks around the school compound.

source.The Nation (Kenya)