High Rate of Pregnancy to Secondary School Students in Tanzania: A Case of Sikonge District Council, Tabora Region.

Mwambene, Neema Joram (2021) High Rate of Pregnancy to Secondary School Students in Tanzania: A Case of Sikonge District Council, Tabora Region. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

The general objective of this study was to investigate factors contributing to prevalence of early pregnancy among secondary school girls in Sikonge district, Tanzania. The study was guided by the following four specific objectives; assess awareness on sexual practices and reproductive health, determine the socio-economic and cultural belief that influence early sexual practices, examine the challenges facing secondary school girls in their learning and establish strategies that can help to rescue the situation of girls’ pregnancies in the district. The study was guided by mixed research approach which is a combination of qualitative and quantitative approach. Whereas, quantitative research approach refers to counts and measures of things. The sample size used was 516 inclusive of students, teachers, parents and district education officer. This study applied three types of research tools in collecting data namely questionnaires, interview and documentary review. The findings present high awareness of students on sexual practice and reproductive health. The social and economic aspects have a large influence on early pregnancies in schools as many of the surveyed students agreed that initiation, poverty, lack of sexual education and the influence of peer group to have significant contribution on early pregnancies. The study recommends stakeholders to conduct trainings to improve awareness on the effect associated with early pregnancies particularly on school attendance and academic performance, also parents and teachers’ commitment and cooperation in addressing false traditions to ensure they do not adversely affect the girls. Further studies to be conducted in determining the effect of adulthood initiation on academic performance. Keywords: Pregnancy, Secondary Schools, Prevalence, Students.

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