Promoting basic education for women and girls ... - library.unesco-ii...

Pregnancy continues to be a leading cause for dropping out
of school of most teen-age girls. 27 per cent of hospital deliv-
eries are 15–19 year old girls. Efforts have been made by
different organizations working with youth, but the impact is
hardly measurable, as more girls drop out of school because
of pregnancy. Young girls are faced with many challenges
as they follow their line of growth from puberty to teenage
stage and young adults. The home environment is not sup-
portive. Proper education and counselling is something that
homes do not offer.
Swaziland
31S
situation is one of ‘apparent gender balance’. In the early
years of secondary education, girls are in the majority, but
the table turns in favour of the boys in later years.
In the 1999 school year, for example, girls constituted
51.71 per cent of children in the first year of secondary
education. In the fifth year, the proportion of girls
was 46.22 per cent. The corresponding proportions for
the year 2000 were 52.6 per cent girls in the first year and
48.60 per cent in the fifth year.
In addition, girls in Swaziland are still subject to
the negative influences on girls’ education, which are at
work in other countries of Africa. Thus, poverty, pockets
of resistance to Western education (and particularly negative
attitudes to schooling for girls), gender stereotyping
in the choice of careers and areas of study, unwanted
pregnancies, etc., are still stark realities in the country. As
is very well known, these factors contribute to non-enrolment,
drop-out, irregular attendance, repetition, and poor
performance among girls.
The threat of teenage pregnancy
Extracts from FAWESWA, Needs Assessment
Report on Teenage/Young Mothers, November 2000