Nakuru County Gender, Culture and Social Services Chief Officer Ms Abduba Tume has called for concerted efforts in taming teenage pregnancies in the country.
Tume noted that county governments should come up with a comprehensive and friendly sex education policy for free access to information.
So far, at least 450 girls failed to sit their KCPE and KCSE national exams due to teenage pregnancies, with some being forced to sit their exams in maternity wards.
According to a recent Kenya Demographic and Health Survey report on teenage pregnancy prevalence, Narok County topped the list with a rate of 40%, Samburu with 26%, Nakuru 18%, while Lamu recorded 10%.
Tume was speaking at Bondeni Primary School when she presented food and non-food items donated by the County Government of Nakuru to a group of boys who have undergone circumcision.
123 boys from Bondeni, Kivumbini, Manyani and other low-income areas in Nakuru East, as well as 29 others from the street community, went through the rite of passage.
Tume noted that the county government has devised new ways of incorporating street children in formal technical education to help them earn a decent living.
She further noted that teenage girls in the area will be taken through mentorship programmes as one of the measures aimed at curbing teenage pregnancies.
“Adolescent girls will undergo an alternative rite of passage and be incorporated into mentorship programmes to appreciate that they can succeed despite coming from low-income areas,” she said.
Ms Rose Apicha, a community health worker said the move was timely as it would also help in curbing drug and substance abuse among the youth.
She raised concern over the number of youth who have joined criminal gangs such as Confirmed and Gaza which have been terrorising residents.
On his part, Bondeni Community Empowerment Programme organising secretary Ezekiel Gitau commended the County Government of Nakuru and other partners for supporting the programme.
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