On March 15, 2020, the Kenyan government abruptly closed all schools nationwide in response to COVID-19, disrupting nearly 17 million learners countrywide.
The closure of institutions not only affected learners and teachers but it also brought forth numerous economic and social issues, including interrupted and loss of learning, homelessness, increase in teenage pregnancies, sexual exploitation among others.
Christine* has to keep up with his emotional abusive tuktuk driver “husband” just at the age of 17 years old.
She was sent to her husband’s home by her parents after they discovered she was pregnant.
The father of the baby wanted the pregnancy be aborted, but Christine could not bring herself to “killing”
Christine who is now four months pregnant met the husband after she boarded his tuktuk.
“We were just friends and he would offer me free rides. I accepted them because I could save money meant for transportation and instead use it in buying other personal items,” said Christine.
And with the schools closed and with parents to supervise, she found herself with a lot of free time, which gave her an opportunity to engage in sexual activities, something that she really regrets.
Without the knowledge of safe sex or contraceptives she found herself pregnant.
When the parents discovered, they chased her away and was forced to seek refuge at the driver’s house.
“I am like a second wife because his wife leaves at their rural home. Ever since I came to his house, it has become a shouting field and he sometimes gets violent, “she said.
Christine wished that her family could forgive and accept her back home.
Mary, a class five pupil at one of the primary school in Mombasa was forced to marry a class five boy who had impregnated her.
“I met Karisa and we became friends but within short period, I got pregnant ,”she revealed.
Mary said her parents were angry after she informed them of her situation.
She added “My dad was mad and took me to Karisa’s house and left me there. He said he will come back for me once I give birth,”
However, months later, she still has to put up with her a teenage husband as her father is yet to pick her up.
To make matters worse, her family moved back to their rural home.
Mary has to spend most of days with her three months child and her mother-in-law since the husband is always away most of the time.
Statistics
According to statistics at the Kenya health information system, between January and May 2020, Kenya recorded 151,433 cases of teenage pregnancies.
The girls were between the aged of 10-19 years old.
Nairobi topped the list after it recorded 11,795 cases while Kakamega came second after it recorded 6,686.
Mombasa recorded 995 cases of teenage pregnancies.
Lamu and Embu recorded the most list cases with 516 and 932 cases respectively.
According to human right defenders,some of these pregancies were as of sexual assault on the girls who were out of school due to Covid 19.
With lose of livelihoods of most parents, some of the children were forced to go into income-generating activities so as to contribute in the family’s daily needs.
This made some of the students go into dangerous casual work where some were sexually exploited by their employers.
As a result, cases of early marriages increased as parents sent away impregnated girls.
Naila Abdalla of Kisauni sisters for justice says most parents opted to take the girls to people who impregnated them.
Due to the prolonged closure of schools, the number of students who joined crime was also recorded to have increased as a result of prolonged closure of schools.
With a lot of time in their hands, many children joined criminal gangs while some abused drugs.
School closures also had implications for learners who relied on school feeding programs as a main source of nutrition. With everyone now at home, families’ ability to provide food for their children has been even further reduced due to loss of income and jobs.
School feeding programmes provided both educational and health benefits for the most vulnerable children thereby increasing enrolment rates, reducing absenteeism.
Measures after re-opening
99 percent of students have returned back to school according to education CS George Magoha.
Most of the schools have received back all the students with only a small percentage of girls who have not reported back after they gave birth or are about to give birth.
“Few girls who have either given birth and are nursing their young ones or are about to give birth have been allowed to remain home for some few days. After that, we will ensure they go back to school,” he said.
Magoha said school heads and education official will follow up on all students to ensure those who got pregnant during the closure of schools are back to school.
Millions of girls both in primary and high school will also benefit from free sanitary towels in order to keep them in school.
The CS said all regions have received the towels and will now embark in distributing them amongst its schools.
“1.7 million girls in primary school who are eligible for the sanitary and their colleagues in high school will receive sanitary package for nine months,” he noted.
This will ensure girls do not miss school due to lack of sanitary towels and will further protect them from sexual predators who prey them with excuse of providing them with the much needed towels.
