Teenage Pregnancy In Secondary School In Tanzania: A Case Of Kasulu-District

ABSTRACT

According to American College of obstetricians and Gynecologists, Teen age pregnancy is pregnancy in human females under the age of 20 at the time that the pregnancy ends. A pregnancy can take place after the start of the puberty before first menstrual period, but usually occurs after the onset of periods. Teenage pregnancy is a natural human occurrence that is a poor fit with modern society. In many ways it has become a proxy in what could be called the cultural wars. Teenage pregnancy is defined as occurring between thirteen and eighteen years of age. There are, however, girls as young as ten who are sexually active and occasionally become pregnant and give birth. The study aimed at analyzing Teenage pregnancy in secondary school girls in Kasulu Rural District. In order to achieve the objectives of the study various methodologies were organized for data collection. These included the interviews, questionnaire and focus group discussion (FGD), as well as transect walk within the secondary school settings (observation), qualitative and quantitative approaches, because emphasized objectivity and use systematic procedures to measure human behaviour by using formal structured instruments when collecting data from respondents. Through the methodology which was adopted in this study for data collection and the analysis, the major findings from the four secondary schools, students, teachers and education officers as well as parents were categorized into social and economic factors. As how teenage pregnancy results in lower educational attainment, increase rates of poverty, and worse‖ life outcomes‖ for children of teenage mothers compared to children of young adult women.