Teenage Pregnancy

The most explosive information about our society surfaced recently. In answering a question in Parliament, the Education Minister easily pulled statistics revealing that every year in our small population of 1.3 million, over 2,500 teenage girls become pregnant; the majority of these unfortunate girls drop out of school; by age 19, over 1,000 girls in this country already have four children; and 50 per cent of mothers in Trinidad and Tobago are single parents (Maraj 2014). Furthermore, the solutions to decrease the high levels of pregnancy among teenagers still remain a challenge for Trinidad and Tobago. As a result, it has been destroying the lives of young girls for generations and the rate of these incidents has not changed significantly for the past fifteen years. Consequently, pregnant teenagers should be allowed to continue their education because it is their right to receive an education regardless of gender, ethnic, economic, social or religious background. Teenage pregnancy has risen significantly among secondary school girls in Trinidad and Tobago and is spreading rapidly due to, lack of sex education, absence of parental guidance, as well as ill-treatment. Sex Education is the process of acquiring information and knowledge about the human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, and other aspects of human sexual behaviour. It helps to educate young people about preventing and protecting themselves against abuse, exploitation, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and AIDS. Therefore, comprehensive sex education should be implemented in primary schools as a subject to help in lowering the problem and other sex related issues among young people. According to Shanta Dookran, "When a school does not include sex education in its curriculum, it fails in its responsibility to ensure that each student grows into a healthy adult, who acts responsibly, and is free to attain his/her highest potential."

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References: Connelly C, 2014 Trinidad and Tobago Newsday Retrieved from: http://www.newsday.co.tt/sunday_special_report/0,195258.html Dookran S, 2011 Trinidad and Tobago Guardian newspaper Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.tt/gie/2011/03/28/teenagers-should-have-sex-education-school