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Girls’ education is one of the most discussed issues in the world. School environment has an
influence in promoting girls’ educational needs. Explicit to school environment, is the peril
of girls’ pregnancies that this study intended to address. The purpose of this study was to
examine the relationship between school environment and girls’ pregnancies in secondary
schools in Ilemela District, Tanzania. The study adopted a mixed research method and
exploratory sequential design. Study population consisted of 60 O level secondary school
girls and boys aged 14-19 years as well as 8 teachers, who filled in questionnaires and were
chosen using random sampling. Interviews with key informants in schools and a vocational
training centre where focus group discussion was conducted were used in this study. The
findings revealed that naivety among students, uncaring teachers, indiscipline among
teachers and students, long distances from home to school, poor/lack of transport,
temptations from men and poor parents’ involvement in school affairs exposed schoolgirls to
the burden of pregnancy. It was recommended that there should be strengthening of
counselling departments as well as introduction of sex education in schools so as students
can become knowledgeable of reproductive health matters and avoid sexual behaviours.
Also, there should be responsibility among teachers and students in fulfilling intended
school goals in order to achieve good academic performance and lessen the number of
pregnancies and school dropouts. |
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