The current statistics of girl child dropping out of school due to early pregnancy is alarming in Western Kenya and education stake holders are pointing accusing fingers to one another over the mess.
While parents are still brainstorming over what transpired in Mt. Elgon where over 20 girls were impregnated by village goons and some well know personalities, parents in Kakamega are flabbergasted over the recent incident where 16 girls in a Kakamega School were impregnated and forced to quit School even though most of them were supposed to sit for this year’s KCSE.
The mentioned cases are just but a few that were reported with many going unreported either due to conspiracy from parents to hide themselves from society, citing shame or lack of witness for cases to be pursued by relevant bodies.
The issue of parents killing the ‘story’ is ridiculous and shameless especially where cases of incest are involved.
A cross survey done by www.westfm.co.ke shows that most mothers hide their husbands who have committed the abominable acts from the wrath of the police and the society baying for the blood.
Many cases of defilement going with suspects being set free are attributed to parents especially mothers shielding the culprits and this way our society continues to record spates of such cases with suspects being left to walk scot free.
School going children have been defiled by truck drivers and boda boda operators with the knowledge of their mothers.
The issue of mothers sending the young starts to roam around the streets to get food for the younger sibling has led to many cases of unwanted pregnancies hence they are forced to drop out of school an act that kills their bright future and dreams.
The police have always lamented due to lack of witnesses to enable them apprehend the suspected persons connected with defilement cases, hence mostly such cases are thrown away
I dare say that a handful of such cases are as a result of illicit affairs between a teacher and a pupil and at the end of the day, those girls lose school admissions while the teachers involve smile all the way to the banks every end moth .
The laws enacted by Teachers Service Commission to punish such teachers have never been put into practice and suffering lots are always our very own innocent children
To curb the increasing cases of teenage pregnancy, a joint effort is a must, Parents must play their role, teachers and other stake holders in the Education sector the same.
Where are the teachers unions? Why do they fight for their rights while the boss who employs them ‘children’ are suffering, Don’t they know that they are in the office because of that molested girl? It is time for those unions to step up and protect the boss who is endangered.
County Directors of Education in all Counties should come in public and give the status of girl child education in their specific Counties, are they sleeping on their jobs, what strategies are putting in place to curb the vice? They should answer those queries.
Religious leaders though most of them have turned against the flock must stand up to the position and preach the Christian values to enable the society groom those future leaders and return to sanity
Many cases have been reported where pastors have defiled a Sunday school girl, impregnated her and fled in the dark, amazingly such purported messengers of God are still working preaching water and at night they dine with wine.
Judiciary service should also speed up cases on the culprits to ensure they are dealt with to serve as permanent examples .
However with many girls dropping out school daily due to early pregnancies, stiff laws should be enacted to punish the defilers .