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| Jaackie Ngarandd with a 14-year-old impregnated in Murewa |
About 13 353 teenagers were impregnated in Manicaland last year, marking a worrying trend in which 55 learners completely dropped out of school, including three who were at primary level, The Manica Post has learnt.
The statistics,
though worrisome, present a slight drop from 14 027 teenage pregnancies
recorded in 2023.
The stunning
revelations also came in the wake of 161 young girls abandoning school to get
married, 12 of which were at primary school level.
This was
revealed by National Aids Council (NAC) Manicaland provincial monitoring and
evaluation officer, Mr Sibert Hlatywayo in a presentation during the
NotInMyVillage campaign launch held last Friday.
Mr Hlatywayo
said the 13 353 teenagers were impregnated across the seven districts in
Manicaland, with Chipinge and Mutare Rural leading the pack.
Although the 13
353 was a slight drop from the 14 027 cases recorded in 2023, concerns remain
high about teenage pregnancies and marriages in the province.
Factors driving
teenage pregnancies and child marriages in Manicaland include sexual abuse,
violence, lack of sexual health education and poverty as well as harmful
religious and cultural norms and practices.
“On teenage
pregnancy and fertility rates, historically we have high teenage pregnancy
rates in Manicaland. From 2018, the prevalence of teenage pregnancies was as
high as 27 percent, which was even higher than the national average of 20
percent.
“From 2024
alone, we have seen from statistics in our database that we had almost 161
girls who dropped out of school because of pregnancies and child marriages. The
implication of this is that they are creating vulnerability for the girl child
and missed opportunities. They are also missing out on education, health and
economic opportunities.
“Looking at the
school dropouts for 2024, we lost 149 in secondary schools and 12 in primary
schools because of child marriages. These are Grade Sevens and below. In terms
of pregnancies, we have three reported at primary level and 53 at secondary
school,” he said.
Mr Hlatywayo’s
report revealed that of the 13 353 teenage pregnancies, 1 459 were recorded in
Buhera District, while 2 082 were recorded in Makoni.
Mutasa District
had 1 587, while Nyanga recorded 1 093 cases. City of Mutare recorded 384
teenage pregnancies, while Chimanimani had 1 291 in 2024.
Mr Hlatywayo
said Mutare and Chipinge districts recorded the highest number of teenage
pregnancies both in 2023 and 2024.
“We had the
highest number of teenage pregnancies in 2023 and 2024 in Chipinge and Mutare
Rural respectively. In Chipinge, we had 3 838 and 3 239 teenage pregnancies in
2023 and 2024, respectively. Mutare was the second highest with 2 279 and 2 250
cases in 2023 and 2024 respectively, hence the decision for us to pioneer the
NotInMyVillage campaign in these districts in province,” he said.
Apart from
teenage pregnancies and child marriages, 254 and 188 girls from the province
dropped out of secondary and primary education due to financial difficulties
while 59 dropped out of both primary and secondary school due to illness.
Manicaland
Provincial Education Director (PED), Mr Richard Gabaza said schools were doing
their best to educate girls of the dangers of falling pregnant while at school.
“We have
Guiding and Counselling sessions in all our schools that take care of that
area, educating our learners on the consequences of falling pregnant while
still in school. They teach the learners on the importance of finishing their
school first before becoming parents.
“Statutory
Instrument 13 of 2025 also has provision for that. As schools, we preach the
gospel of anti-child pregnancy or anti-pregnancy in school. However, in the
event that it happens, the SI provides that the child should remain in school
until such a time the pregnancy is heavy, and they are allowed to go and
deliver.
“The Statutory
Instrument is also in support of the Constitution itself, and in terms of the
Education Act, Section 68 also provides for non-exclusion of the girl child who
gets pregnant while at school, stipulating that such a child should not be sent
home after falling pregnant, mindful of the fact that the circumstances could
have been beyond her control,” said Mr Gabaza.
Renowned
gynaecologist, Dr Miriam Kanyenze said teenage pregnancies often result in
Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) — also known as foetal growth
restriction (FGR) — which occurs when a foetus fails to grow at the expected
rate during pregnancy, resulting in a baby smaller than expected for
gestational age.
“What happens
is that effects of teenage pregnancy are massive and can cause a number of
problems. I have categorised them into foetal and maternal, whether they are
psychological or medical. On the foetal part, there are high chances of them
delivering low birth weight babies, intrauterine growth restriction and also
difficult deliveries because of poor development of their skeletal pelvis,
leading to birth injuries and that is called CPD or obstructed labour.
“Also the baby
can have anaemia because of poor nutrition of the mother. The mother is prone
to pregnancy-induced blood pressure. They are more prone to preterm labour,
leading to problems of prematurity. Some of the babies might have Neural Tube
Defects (NTDs) — birth defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord that occur
when the neural tube, the structure that develops into the brain and spinal
cord, does not close properly during early pregnancy.
“Psychologically,
the mother might have low self-esteem, mental health stress, sadness and even
suicidal thoughts. They can feel isolated, skip classes, assignments or
projects leading to eventually dropping out. Because of the bones, especially
in our set where we have poor development owing to poor social economic status,
the mothers can labour at home and end up with obstructed labour, which lead to
either fistulas. Obstetric Fistula is a serious childbirth injury characterised
by an abnormal opening between the birth canal and bladder and/or rectum, which
might also result in leaking urine or leaking faeces into the genital.
“They might
also have caesarean section, which might lead to a lot of morbidity, where they
have chronic pelvic pain. Some of them might not even have children afterwards
as they may also die or have malnutrition that leads to anaemia. The other
thing that we have seen with these teenage pregnancies is that they have very
high chances of performing unsafe abortion. Compared to older age groups, they
actually have 9,1 percent of having unsafe abortions compared to five percent
of other populations,” she said.
Child rights
activist, Ms Florence Mutake acknowledged that the statistics were disturbing,
and emphasised the need to safeguard the rights of the girl child.
“These
statistics are deeply saddening, as they represent young lives being negatively
impacted by circumstances that are avoidable. If we ensure that these children
are fully aware of the dangers of falling pregnant while in school, we can
likely reduce these statistics. We must increase engagement,” said Ms Matuke. Manica
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