More than half of girls in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province between the ages of 15 and 19 have already been pregnant, according to a study by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The Department for Education has recognized the implications for teaching.
“This is quite alarming. This is another aspect of the huge problem facing the province. Unfortunately, she does not have good results,” Ivaldo Quincardete, director of education for the province of Cabo Delgado, admitted to Lusa.
According to the Demographic and Health Survey (IDS), presented to INE on August 24, the average number of children per Mozambican woman has fallen to 4.9, the lowest in 25 years. It also adds that 36% of teens aged 15 to 19 have already been pregnant, and 7.5% are currently pregnant, compared to 29.3% and 8.2% in the 2011 IDS, respectively. . However, 55.3% of teenagers in Cabo Delgado province aged 15 to 19 were already pregnant, the highest rate in the country.
“Something curious is happening: unfortunately, we have schools where girls get pregnant – because we now allow pregnant girls to study, they continue to study normally – they study, but the children are on the school grounds with a minor, with a nanny who looks after the child of seven or eight years old, who, as we sometimes understand, does not study,” admitted Ivaldo Quincardete.
“So we solved one problem, but now another has been created. We also have to work on creating awareness among these mothers so that in the opposite period, if she studies in the afternoon, then she leaves that girl, the nanny, to look after her daughter, study in the morning or vice versa,” he added.
In a province that has been reeling for six years from the aftermath of terrorist attacks that have left nearly 4,000 people dead and more than a million displaced, as well as 200 schools that remain destroyed, illiteracy rates are another challenge for the sector. .
“She’s very tall. Unfortunately, I say this with great sadness, we have a large number of people who cannot read, write, and especially women. Almost 70% of women cannot read and write. Write, this is our task. We have worked hard to reduce this rate, but due to this situation, the movement of the population, sometimes it is not easy to really focus on teaching our fellow citizens to read and read. write,” admitted Ivaldo Quincardete.
There are currently about 824 schools in the province of Cabo Delgado, of which about 190 are still closed.
Last year it had 596,000 students in grades one through 12, and in the current 2023 school year it has 671,000 students, with a total of 730,000 expected in 2024.
According to the person in charge, “the needs are very great” and “Cabo Delgado, apart from the situation it is in, unfortunately related to terrorism, was already a province with a shortage of classrooms.”
A 2020 survey noted that an additional 2,222 classrooms were needed across the province “to accommodate children learning outdoors under trees” and “about 37,000 double desks to actually accommodate children sitting in semi.” “
In 2021, there were approximately 96,000 displaced students in Cabo Delgado, but in 2023 the number dropped to 40,000.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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