From: wsargeant@igc.apc.org (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Tanzania, early pregnancy forces gi'
Date: 27 Jul 92 14:22:36 GMT

/* Written 12:05 am  Jul 27, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "TANZANIA: EARLY PREGNANCY FORCES GI" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Opecna Afternoon Transmission
Reference: Women
Title: TANZANIA: EARLY PREGNANCY FORCES GIRLS OUT OF SCHOOL


an inter press service feature

by paul chintowa

dar es salaam, jul 24 (ips) -- at the tender age of 14 years,
asha juma is among a swelling number of young mothers in
tanzania.

after conceiving when she was 12 years old, asha discontinued
her primary education and that was the start of a miserable
life. now she has to fend for herself and a two-year old baby
girl.

becoming pregnant at that age, asha was regarded as ominous
by her parents and was chucked out of their home under a flood
of curses because she was a ''traitor'' in the family.

''i had nothing to do but take refuge with my aunt,'' says
asha who has enrolled at a special school set up in dar es
salaam city for girls in the same predicament.

some 40,000 children drop out of tanzanian schools every
year, half of the lot due to pregnancy, according to statistics
compiled by the ministry of education and culture.

despite repeated warnings by government, ''child marriages''
are incessant in this east african nation. under the country's
law, a girl is marriageable at 16 years.

however, available studies on sexuality in tanzania indicate
that initial sexual contact occurs before age 16 for most of the
adolescent population. over 50 percent of girls in late teens
are sexually experienced.

children comprise a large proportion of the country's
population, currently put at 27 million, but a worrying
phenomenon is their high drop-out rate in the educational
system.

in many sub-saharan african countries, factors accounting for
dropping out of school include poverty which afflicts families,
traditional norms, increase in private costs of education
consequent to introduction of school fees and cost sharing and
deterioration in the quality of learning.

in certain parts of tanzania poor parents marry off their
daughters because they have too many mouths to feed while there
is no improvement in income security for heads of households.

from dowry, usually in terms of cattle or cash, poor parents
want to make a better living while in regions where cash-crop
economy has a hold on the population, early marriage is
considered a taboo. (more/ips)


tanzania: early (2)

burdened with rapid population growth at over three percent
per annum, tanzania needs to achieve high growth rates of gross
domestic product if some margin for individual human betterment
is to be secured.

at the centre of unwanted pregnancies and child marriages in
tanzania, according to social scientists in the country, are two
factors: the absence of family life education and the
imitation of foreign lifestyles.

''girls know nothing when they reach adolescence because
there is no close communication between them and their
parents'', says gottlieb mpangile, operations director of
tanzania's national family planning association (umati).

unfavourable trends in the population profile and the
education system are consequences of delayed action on a
national population policy.

in order to free the nation of this dilemma, government
has unveiled a population policy that, among other objectives,
seeks to bring about successful family planning in tanzania.

it is noted in the policy document that girls have usually
been married at a young age while many couples do not regulate
the number and spacing of births because they have not been
educated about the implications of family size.

preparation and acceptance of tanzania's population policy
took several years as it was necessary to first sensitize
political and religious leaders as well as sections of the
community to the economic, social and environmental consequences
of rapid population growth.

success of the policy will greatly depend on basic education
provided to the people since it plays a significant role in the
life of a nation. (end/ips/pc/ar/92)


Newsgroups: soc.culture.african