3 000+ girls drop out of school due to pregnancy 

Source: 3 000+ girls drop out of school due to pregnancy | The Sunday News

Mkhululi Ncube, Sunday News Reporter

TEENAGE pregnancies remain a challenge in Zimbabwe with official reports indicating that more than 3 368 learners dropped out of school due to pregnancy out of a grand total of 33 746 pupils who left school for various other reasons in 2024.

According to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education 2024 report on Secondary School Dropouts there are thousands of learners who dropped out of school for reasons such as pregnancy, financial challenges, marriage, child Labour, illness, special needs, expulsion, absconding and death.

Financial burdens topped the list with 5 885 girls and 6 736 boys failing to continue with their education due to these constraints. A total of 4 561 girls dropped out of school and got married while 232 boys also joined the marriage institution.

While the report did not detail the age groups that left school because of marriage, a number of these learners are under-age and Zimbabwe continues to battle child marriage which is illegal and largely performed by some religious sects.

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education

Sadly, 234 learners died in 2024 and 351 others dropped out due to illness. A total of 100 delinquents were expelled from the education system and could not continue pursuing their education because of the various offences they performed.

With the rise of artisanal mining and farming activities taking place in various parts of the country, about 832 children left school to go and work in these areas and other places possibly due to economic challenges where learners end up assisting parents with labour.

National Aids Council (NAC) Bulawayo Province reported that a number of school going age girls dropped out of school in 2024 alone, raising the need to increase awareness on abstinence among the girls who are still in school and bringing to book perpetrators having sex with minors.

Despite the country passing the law which criminalises sexual intercourse with children below the ages of 18, teenagers continue to fall pregnant, a development which threatens gains made in the fight against HIV.

National Aids Council (NAC) Bulawayo Provincial Manager Mrs Sinatra Nyathi said young people continue to drive new HIV infections.

National Aids Council

“About 50 percent of new infections are coming from young people with adolescent girls and young women the big drivers. There are a lot of factors that affect them ranging from sexual violence, we also realise there are many young girls going into sex work. As a province our statistics for teen pregnancies are going up, they are actually worrisome because for last year we had over 2 000 and that is a lot,” said Mrs Nyathi.

She said most young girls getting pregnant hide their pregnancies from parents and guardians and do not register at health centres with some only going to hospitals when they are already in advanced labour.

Mrs Nyathi said this poses a challenge as it becomes difficult to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV if the mother is HIV-positive.

“Most of the time when a teenager is pregnant, they do not understand what is happening to them. It affects plans to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child but when the baby is already infected it becomes difficult. Most of them are under 18 which means most of the pregnancies are due to sexual violence and rape. Reporting such cases becomes a challenge as the children are threatened which makes it difficult to put them on Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) on time,” she said.

PEP is a drug used to prevent HIV infection which must be administered soon after sexual violence has occurred to reduce the chances of infection. This drug must also be taken within 72 hours of the sexual act.

Mrs Nyathi said of concern also are sexually transmitted infections like syphilis which babies are supposed to be protected against and if the minor child does not report to a health institution to register the pregnancy on time, can affect the unborn child.

She said some attempt illegal abortions in unsafe conditions which leads to loss of life.

“We want to do a rapid assessment to see who is impregnating the girls. But we also realise that at these vuzu parties that they attend, the adolescents are on their own. We are really not sure if it is their peers or the older men. Due to lack of birth registration and dropping out of school there is a high number of girls going to sex work and because they are young, they are not comfortable to come in the open to say they are exchanging sex for goods and money. This makes it difficult for us to help with protection,” she said.

Mrs Nyathi said there is need for parents, guardians and the whole community to be involved in the Sexually Reproductive Health of adolescents to stop the spread of HIV and early pregnancies.

“We are calling on different stakeholders to help each other prevent new HIV infections. We want to be aggressive in terms of promoting prevention and implement high impact and low-cost programmes due to financial challenges as the result of the new order coming from the new American administration,” she said.

Mrs Nyathi said schools through their Guidance and Counselling departments have a big role to play in helping in the fight against HIV and early unwanted pregnancies.

She noted that drug and substance abuse is posing a challenge as some engage in risky behaviour after taking drugs while those HIV treatments default.