BUJUMBURA June 16th (ABP) – The perpetrators of unwanted pregnancies who are not denounced and the amicable settlement are the factors that accentuate the proliferation of cases of unwanted pregnancies in schools.
This was said by the consultant-educator of the Bafashebige coalition, Cassien Gashirahamwe, on Tuesday June 14 in Bujumbura, on the 2nd day of the advocacy workshop in favor of young girls who are victims of unwanted pregnancies, organized by the National Youth Network of people living with HIV/AIDS (RVJ+).
According to Mr. Gashirahamwe, the figures of cases of unwanted pregnancies in schools are becoming more and more alarming.
In his presentation on the state of affairs, he based himself on studies carried out by the Bafashebige coalition, which show the evolution of cases of unwanted pregnancies in five years from the 2016-2017 school year until 2020-2021.
Statistics show that the most vulnerable are between 16-19 years old where the figures stood at 339 for the 2016-2017 school year, 366 in 2017-2018, 272 in 2018-2019, 229 in 2019-2020 and 256 in 2020-2021. For the age group between 13-15 years, the figures were 62 in 2016-2017, 76 in 2017-2018, 43 in 2018-2019, 45 in 2019-2020 and 90 in 2020-2021.
The same study specifies that the most cited perpetrators are student friends and farmers and out of more than six thousand single mothers questioned, more than four thousand five hundred are unaware of the perpetrators of those pregnancies.
The multiplication of cases of unwanted pregnancies is due to several factors, among others, the perpetrators not denounced, the amicable settlement, the poverty that haunts families, the decrease in boarding schools, according to Mr. Gashirahamwe.
For the lawyer, Mrs. Kelly Remesha, the articles of the penal code dealing with cases of unwanted pregnancies in schools are well structured. They must be applied in strict compliance so that the perpetrators of unwanted pregnancies are punished in accordance with the law.
The participants, for their part, wished for the remarkable involvement of the State to alleviate those unwanted pregnancies in the school environment, through the slogan “Zero pregnancy at school”.