School is not a maternity

Worldwide, “nearly 16 million adolescent girls aged 15–19 years give birth each year.” the report says preventing early pregnancy and its reproductive health consequences for adolescents in developing countries Guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The academic year 2017 session has officially taken up and the time is on the balance sheet. I am not referring to an assessment of the pupils progress in achieving success, but an equally important assessment of the survival and future of young girls, which is the assessment of early pregnancy in schools.
In Côte d’Ivoire, according to a report entitled “School pupil statistics 2016–2017” by the Ivorian Ministry of National Education published in April 2017, 4,471 pregnancies have been recorded in schools in Côte d’Ivoire during Of the 2016–2017 school year. The large-scale Zero Pregnancy Campaign launched in 2014 by the government and supported by NGOs has made it possible to increase from 6,800 cases in 2014–2015 to 5,900 cases in 2015–2016. Even though the number of pregnancies recorded in schools is decreasing, it remains important.
Authors of pregnancies that are young boys or men generally refuse to recognize paternity for various reasons. As for the parents of the girls, they react differently to this situation.
Some force the girl not to have the child, which is not without risk. Other parents ask the girl to make a choice between studies and the child she is expecting. “My parents say they can not pay for my classes at the same time and look after my condition. They asked me to make a choice and I decided to stay at home. “, Affirmed to the site afrique.le360, Aline, a girl of 16 years.
Finally, there are those who literally push the girl to abandon studies without giving them any kind of moral or financial support, such as the young Fatou who became pregnant at the age of 14 in the 5th grade, , For her and her son, the NGO Cavoequiva, committed to the promotion of well-being and the defense of human rights and in particular those of children and women.

“I was in grade 5, I met a young student from my school with whom I was going out, and then I got pregnant. He did not acknowledge being the author of the pregnancy. I went to the NGO and it was here that we were taken care of until the birth. Today, if the NGO helps me return to school, I would be delighted because I have always dreamed of being a caregiver.”
Excerpt from an article on the RFI website, entitled, Côte d’Ivoire: thousands of girls get pregnant at school
It is important to remember that “school is a place of training and learning. It is not a place for procreation. When you’re in school, you’re a child. A child does not have a child, a child must go to school to succeed. No pupil should be pregnant.” It can be read on the website of the Directorate of Mutuality and Social Works (Dmoss) of the Ministry of National Education and Technical Education.
Despite the fact that the rate of early pregnancy in schools is decreasing, it is still worrying. Young girls are exposed to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as hepatitis B, AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, genital warts …
It is necessary to continue to educate students, even during holidays, to adopt severe sanctions against men who abuse minors in order to dissuade a large majority. Parents must also play a very important role in the sex education of their child because it is the lack of information that often leads them to commit the irreparable.
