By SITEMBILE SIWAWA
Hardly a day passes without being informed by the media of the rising number of girls dropping out of school because of unplanned pregnancies and early marriages.
Despite Zambia being a signatory to many treaties such as the SADC protocol on gender and development and Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), it is unfortunate that the country has continued witnessing sad tales of girls becoming young mothers.
In the hope to alleviate this problem Government, through the Ministry of Health, has come up with a solution.
The Ministry of Health will partner with the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Childhood Education to find a way of ensuring that girls have access to quality reproductive health services.
The two institutions will start providing oral contraceptives to schoolgirls who are of menstruating age and are sexually active as a way of stemming the tide of unwanted pregnancies.
But will this news go well with parents and guardians who will only see it as a way of encouraging promiscuity among schoolgirls?
Margaret Nakazwe of Lusaka, a mother of three - one boy and two girls - says the idea of allowing sexually-active schoolgirls access to oral contraceptives is welcome.
Ms Nakazwe said the truth must be faced that girls are engaging in illicit sex and some as young as 10 years old.
She said: "The number of girls getting pregnant is worrisome, and the move by Government to allow sexually-active schoolgirls to have access to any form of contraceptives is welcome provided there is some form of counselling before doing so.
"I would advise my child to seek various contraceptives available if they want to start engaging in pre-marital sex, but I would have a lengthy discussion with her before giving her a go-ahead," she said.
But this development has not settled well with Paul Kamena of Lusaka's Villa Elizabetha, a father of 11 - six boys and five girls - who vehemently said the practice will only encourage youngsters to engage in illicit sex because they will have nothing to fear.
Mr Kamena said just because the policies are working in the Western world does not mean it should also be tried here. He said: "Culture in Africa has been lost.
We are seeing children having babies because of loss of culture. We want to adopt policies that will only destroy our future leaders. In my case I can never allow my child to have access to contraceptives."
Meanwhile, Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) said the sexual and reproductive health of the schoolgirls should be prioritised. YWCA national health coordinator Jani Conred is of the view that schoolgirls who have reached puberty, and are sexually active, should be allowed to have access to contraceptives in order to prevent teen pregnancies.
Mr Conred said schoolgirls are having sex and some start at an early age of 10 or 11 years without the knowledge of their parents or guardians.
He said: "Schoolgirls are indulging in illicit sex and it cannot be ignored or denied and, therefore, it is important that contraceptives are given to them to lessen the levels of teen pregnancies and unsafe abortions."
He could be right. It would be wise to allow schoolgirls who want to take oral contraceptives to freely do so because many of them are doing it secretly anyway.
According to the Demographic and Health Services of 2007, about 16 percent of girls have sex for the first time before the age of 15 and 60 percent before the age of 18 years.
And according to the Ministry of Education, the 2010 status of the bulletin, national schoolgirls' pregnancies stood at 13,769 for grades 1-9 and 1,817 for grades 10-12.
It is therefore important that parents talk to their daughters on sexual issues and advise them on the ways of preventing early pregnancies.
They should be courageous enough to tell their children about the various ways of preventing these pregnancies should they engage in sexual activities.
Deputy Minister of Health Patrick Chikusu was right when he said it is important that the ministries of health and education should work on their policies so that schoolgirls who are engaging in pre-marital sex are protected from early pregnancies and HIV and AIDS.
Dr Chikusu said teen pregnancies have psychological effects on young mothers as some of them feel they have been robbed of their childhood. Others do not have a chance to grow up with their child in cases where the infant is taken away from them on account of their age.
"Childbirth is not a simple task which young girls should undergo and that is why sometimes girls are separated from their children who are barely a month old, and when such children grow up, they will not experience the mother-child relationship," he said.
The minister was quick to dispel assertions that many parents and guardians will have it that the giving of contraceptives to schoolgirls will encourage them to engage in more risky behaviour.
The issue of early pregnancies can only be sorted out if sex education is given to young girls by giving information on the availability of contraceptives.
Whether it is seen as an encouragement or not, youths still engage themselves in forbidden acts and necessary measures need to be put in place to ensure that there is a reduction of teen pregnancies and child mortality rate.
Stakeholders will now have to work on the modalities of distributing the contraceptives to schoolgirls.
Despite government seemingly trying to find a solution to unwanted early pregnancies, schoolgirls should be cautioned not to take this development for granted and indulge in illicit sex at will.
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