Students from Sang and Salanpkang are blaming their parents for the increasing spate of teenage pregnancy among school girls in the Mion district.
According to the school girls, most of their parents have reneged on their responsibilities in providing their needs.
Speaking to Zaa News at Sang, pupils from the district capital and Salankpang attributed their behaviour to irresponsible parenting, explaining that some of their parents don’t give them pocket money and don’t even know which classes their children are in at school.
“If you fail to provide my needs as my parent and someone provides, it will definitely come at a cost,” one pupil stated.
While others blamed their parents, some attributed it to their own behaviour and not their parents. “Some of us sometimes lie to our parents that we are going to class but end up at guys’ rooms,” a pupil confessed.
Another also attributed teenage pregnancy to the desire among basic school pupils to own cell phones, and this, one student suggested should be looked into by authorities.
Yet others called for severe punishment for men charged with impregnating teenagers to serve as a deterrent to others in the communities where the practice is prevalent.
Some of pupils were not happy that their parents have thrown their hands up in despair and appealed to them not to leave the fight to only government but rather to help authorities bring the practice to an end.
Some of the teachers in the district placed the problem of the teenage pregnancy at the door steps of parents for the wrong method adopted in addressing such problems.
According to the teachers, until such settlement of cases like that in society stop teenage pregnancy will continue unabated. “One day I was in my house when a student came to me and confessed that he committed a crime. When I ask him the type of crime. he said, “I impregnated a female colleague and want your intervention.” But he added that his parents have already solved the problem, an assistant head teacher narrated his experience to Zaa News.
A female teacher, however, thinks the situation was due to financial challenges confronting parents and urged NGOs and government to come out with interventions that will help parents take proper care of their wards.
During break time, the number of school children, who stay back in class are more than those going home to eat and their reasons are that, they have no money to buy food, she explained.