Teachers, clergy join hands to address teen pregnancies in Kiambu

Teachers and members of the clergy in Ruiru, Kiambu County have come together to address the rising number of teenage pregnancies and substance abuse.

This comes amid reports that girls as young as 13 years are dropping out of school after getting pregnant while their peers both in primary and secondary schools engage in alcohol and drug use.

To counter this trend, a group of school heads and clergymen have formed the Ruiru Sub County Schools Chaplaincy charged with the duty of counseling learners and even parents of wayward children in an initiative spearheaded by area Deputy County Commissioner Margaret Mbugua.

Juliet Wahome, the Principal Ruiru Kihunguro Secondary School, said recent data shows that 30 per cent of young girls in the area get pregnant at early ages resulting to them dropping out of school.

In the data, she added Ruiru leads among the 14 sub counties of Kiambu in teenage pregnancies, which prompted the local administration led by Ms Mbugua to initiate corrective action.

Ms Wahome observed that the situation has led to some girls risking their lives while trying to secure abortions and regreted that some parents are to blame for neglecting their children.

“There was a case where we nearly lost a girl who had gone to a chemist shop and bought drugs meant to terminate her pregnancy. But instead, on the following day she started bleeding profusely and we had to rush her to hospital to save her life,” said Ms Wahome.

She said some parents choose not to stay with their teenage children and get them into rental houses which often compromises their discipline.

Incidentally, Ms Wahome added, some close relatives including fathers have been linked to cases of sexual abuse of the young girls and appealed to the relevant agencies act decisively on offenders.

“We have had cases where people who impregnate school girls enter into negotiations with the victims’ parents and settle the matter out of court,” said the Principal.

The founder chairman of the group Bishop Phineas Mwiti said poor parenting and alcoholism in some families was to blame for teenage pregnancies as some drunken parents do not bother with the welfare of their children. The clergyman said since the initiative was started in 2022, about 80 pastors have been trained to conduct counseling sessions in schools and added that the program is bearing fruit.