by Desmond Brown
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, April 10 2015, CNS – The tiny twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda is facing a huge dilemma. A high number of adolescent girls are getting pregnant and the country is divided on whether or not these young ladies should be allowed to continue in the education system while pregnant.
In 2009, the government was forced to withdraw a controversial piece of legislation seeking to bar visibly pregnant teenage girls from the classroom.
The government’s Gender Affairs department, which promotes an organisation called ‘Together We Must’, had expressed strong opposition to the proposed law.
But with the latest statistics showing an alarming level of adolescent pregnancy in Antigua and Barbuda, Samantha Marshall, Minister of Social Transformation and Human Resource Development said urgent action is needed to tackle the issue on several fronts, one of which has to be opportunities for pregnant teens to continue their education.
Within the sub-regional grouping, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Antigua and Barbuda has the second highest rate of adolescent pregnancies (ages 15-19), at 67 percent per 1000 girls. St. Vincent and the Grenadines has the highest rate at 70 percent per 1000.
“This is indeed alarming and a serious concern. It is one that requires urgent action to formulate a plan on the way forward,” Marshall told CNS.
“As it is now, there doesn’t seem to be any clear policy and I spoke briefly with the minister of education (Michael Browne) and told him, that I needed a meeting with his full team.
“We need to really seriously look at putting in place a proper structure whereby we would have a school in place for pregnant teens to continue their education and be brought up to speed with whatever courses they may have missed out on,” she added.
Under the laws of Antigua and Barbuda, individuals between ages four and 18 must attend school.
Marshall argues that if a child becomes pregnant and has a baby, there is no reason why she should not be allowed back into the school system.
Traditionally, it has been the practice in most Caribbean countries for schools to ask female students to leave if they become pregnant.
In some islands they have the option of returning to school after giving birth.
In St Kitts and Nevis however, they are allowed to continue their education.
Koren Norton, a social worker, said Antigua and Barbuda has too many teenage pregnancies for such a small country, adding that inequality in the way we view men and women and in the double standard in values does play a role because many boys and men are not taught to respect girls and women.
“They are seen as macho and celebrated when they can have many conquests. Girls who are strong and stand up for themselves are called bitchy and aggressive,” she told CNS.
“Also, if a girl grows up seeing her mother being treated as the ‘weaker’ sex and with the way the media depicts women as sex objects, that adds to her education that she is there for a man’s use or pleasure and it becomes easier for a male to take advantage of her and coerce her into sex before she is ready.
“She thinks that by consenting she was not abused, but if the decision was made under pressure or without all the facts or from a point of lack of education, then she is being taken advantage of,” Norton added.
Reluctance to fully implement the health and family life education (HFLE) programmes in Caribbean schools have been identified as major factors contributing to the high prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in the Caribbean, according to a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report.
The UNFPA’s State of the World Report also indicates that continuous bombardment in the media of programmes and advertisements with sexual overtones have also contributed to the situation.
The report, titled “Motherhood in Childhood in the Caribbean” noted that despite the fall in total fertility rate, adolescent birth rates remain relatively high.
It said that among girls aged 15 – 19 years old, the birth rate ranges from 26 to 97 per 1,000 adolescent girls.
UNFPA’s sub-regional office Assistant Representative, Aurora Noguera Ramkissoon, said the reluctance to teach HFLE in schools stems from fear that faith-based organisations may brand the education system as promoting sex instead of empowering young people to abstain.
“There is a kind of dichotomy in the region where we’re very much influenced by our colonial past, our religious past, so there is some reluctance to fully implement the Health and Family Life Education,” Ramkissoon said.
Norton explained that when a young girl gets pregnant, people react with shock to see a school-aged child with an enlarged stomach or carrying a child herself, but said that is really a symptom of a larger systematic problem.
“That child was likely in an abusive relationship because it is abusive for a man to have sex with a child before the age of consent; that child was exposed to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases; that child’s self-esteem could be severely damaged and that child could have been having sex as a way to get money to eat,” she told CNS.
“So while I am not minimising the horrific nature of a child bearing a child, we have to look at the big picture.”
Norton cites education and empowerment as the way forward for girls.
“Help them to identify goals and dreams and help them to see a bright future ahead,” she said.
“We also need to educate our males to respect girls. There must be swift penalties for child abusers. We need to show our girls love, so they don’t go looking for it elsewhere. We need to also accept that sexual activity can be pleasurable and our young people will be tempted, so educate them on the physical and psychological dangers of having sex too early and on the risks involved and provide meaningful activities for them to do, so they are engaged,” Norton added.
