Thousands of Tanzanian Girls Leave School Due to Pregnancies

Tanzania, which has seen over 18,000 female students in the past five years drop out of school due to pregnancies, on Wednesday will launch a public dialog to find a solution to this problem, Education and Vocational Training Minister Margaret Sitta has said.

The massive dropout rate is reported to affect mostly primary school pupils who have a low level of awareness of safe sex, Sitta told the press in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday organized ahead of a public dialog on the girl-child maternity case due to kick off Wednesday.

Out of the 16,000 dropouts, more than 14,000 were primary school girls, she noted.

“These figures are worrying the government and the public in general, which for years have been scrutinizing the best ways of ending the rampant pregnancies among schoolgirls,” she said.

The public dialog being launched Wednesday in Dar es Salaam is aimed at collecting public views on ending the long-standing schoolgirl pregnancies in the country.

According to Sitta, the dialog would be conducted in eight zones of the country, including Central, West, East, North West and East, Lake and South, in which students, parents, media practitioners, teachers and experts from different fields will participate in airing their views.

From these public hearings, Minister Sitta said, the government will be able to formulate a policy on the matter.

“The idea is to make every child get education because education is everybody’s right,” said Community Development, Gender and Children Minister, Sophia Simba.

MP Zaynab Vullu, the chairperson of the countrywide public dialog committee, stressed cooperation among educational stakeholders and the public to make the move successful.

Vullu said the target is to reduce the level of school girls dropping out by the year 2010.

Source African Press Agency

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