Women's Reproductive Health - Teen Pregnancy and child marriage as a Cause of School Dropout in Angola

June 02, 2023

Women's Reproductive Health - Teen Pregnancy and child marriage as a Cause of School Dropout in Angola

Women's Reproductive Health

Globally teenage pregnancy has been a major interference to the educational achievement of female learners. Teenage pregnancies among school-going learners have grown at an alarming rate and is a serious concern in Angolan society.

Edvania's story

Our heroine today is Edvania, a 17 year old girl. She is pregnant and has just dropped out of school.

Interview

Hello!

Hi.

How are you?

I'm fine thanks.

What is your name?

My name is Edvânia.

How old are you?

I'm 17 years old.

Are you waiting for a baby?

Yes, I'm pregnant, waiting for my baby.

Oh that's great!

It's a teen-pregnancy.

Yes, it's a teen-pregnancy.

How have you been dealing with this situation?

Well, in my point of view, it's not a 7-Headed bug, as the elders say.

I manage to control the situation, although at times it has been very difficult and complicated for me.

For my age this pregnancy is a bit complicated because it has certain life risks that I can face.

Tell me about your family relationship. Do you have family acceptance?

Yes I have.

Did the father of your baby assume the pregnancy?

Yes he assumed the pregnancy.

What about school? Are you still in class?

Well, in the state I'm in, I'm not managing both, I ended up dropping out of school.

Have you stopped going to school?

Yes, I did. It's temporary. I hope to continue and not stop.

So you're going back to school after giving birth to your baby?

Yes.

At the current rate, 20 million more girls will marry during childhood and adolescence in the next decade. The situation has been aggravated by internal conflicts, natural disasters and outbreaks of disease, such as COVID-19, which have disrupted progress towards achieving the SDG targets. Child brides drop out of school to bear children, compromising their health and well-being, and limiting their future autonomy and potential as productive workers, change agents and contributors to African economies.

Challenging one of the world's highest teen pregnancy rates

Angola has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world. With a contraceptive prevalence rate of 14 per cent and an unmet need for family planning among girls aged 15-19 of 43 per cent, teenage pregnancies continue to be taboo. This is the reason for the silence we experience from the families we approaches in Cazenga's neighbourhoods.

Underlying factors for the high rate of teen pregnancies include limited knowledge of family planning, inadequate availability of commodities, limited access to skilled health workers, and insufficient household resources allocated to sexual and reprodutive health. Teen pregnancy increases the existing vulnerability of girls, as pregnancy is often an impediment to continuing education, exemplified by the low literacy rates of only 37 per cent for young women aged 15 to 24.

The country has 10 million girls and women of reproductive age and, although 75 per cent of girls attend primary school, this proportion drops to around 16 per cent at secondary education level, which coincides with the age of first menstruation. High fertility rates and high levels of teenage pregnancy increase the risk of maternal mortality. In this context, behaviour change interventions are key to empowering young women and men to make better decisions to protect themselves.

Angola is the only SADC country without laws to protect pregnant pupils' right to education

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report shows that Angola is the only country in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc that doesn't have laws to protect the education rights of pupils who are pregnant or adolescent mothers.

The HRW report, titled A Brighter Future: Empowering Pregnant Girls and Adolescent Mothers to Stay in School, found that one of the reasons for this is that teenagers are forced to marry before the age of 18.

In other SADC countries, the rights of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers are protected by law.

United Nations (UN) data shows that there are 163 births per 1 000 girls in Angola.

"Angola lacks a re-entry or continuation policy that protects pregnant girls' rights to education. This leads to irregular enforcement of education rights, where school officials can decide what happens to girls' education, or where discriminatory attitudes and social barriers pressure girls to drop out altogether. Pregnant girls are reportedly asked to shift to night school," the report states.

This is even though Angola ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol).