187 schoolgirls impregnated in Ugandan district during coronavirus lockdown

At least 187 Primary Seven pupils in Uganda's Kamuli District got pregnant during the Covid-19 induced lockdown, the Resident District Commissioner has revealed.

Mr Robert Mutemo made the revelation while speaking to Daily Monitor at the weekend.

He said he made the discovery during a random inspection of Primary Seven classes in the district. “Others have been married off or decided to drop out of school during the lockdown,” he said.

Government closed schools in March 2020 to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The schools remained closed for nearly a year until government reopened them for candidate classes in October 2020. The semi-candidate classes also resumed classes on March 1.

While releasing a report titled: "The effect on Covid on teenagers" on March 6, the assistant Kamuli District health officer-in-charge of maternal and child health, Dr Moses Lyagoba, also revealed that between the months of August 2020 and January 2021, at least 3,126 teenage pregnancies were registered in the district.

There have been a number of reports of teenage pregnancies during lockdown which has been blamed on the lack of activities for children to do while at home.

Dr Micah Lopita, a consultant gynaecologist, said these teenage pregnancies, early marriages and defilements expose the young girls to gynaecological complications which put the lives of the girls at greater health risks.

“These young mothers are prematurely developed (physically), when it comes to the reality, they cannot know what to do and for fear of being rejected and traumatised, they will live in denial or opt for wrong solutions like abortions at quack and unqualified health personnel,” Dr Lopita said.

However, there is still hope to rescue the young mothers and help them finish their studies.

Plan International, a child Non-Governmental Organisation, is facilitating local governments of Kamuli, Buyende, Namutumba, and Luuka in making and enacting four ordinances and two bylaws to end child marriages.

So far, the organisation has registered more than 186 child mothers returning to school, 38 graduating in vocational skills, and 78 have been rescued from child marriage.