Girl child crusaders in Garissa County have hailed the strides made in the fight against teenage pregnancies and early marriages.
The crusaders however cautioned those involved in sensitizing the community on the need to sustain the campaign to ensure that the gains made are not eroded
Harrison Ochola, Forum for African Women Educationalist (FAWE) Kenya County Coordinator for Garissa and Machakos Counties said that the campaign dubbed Imarisha Msichana’ has seen the number of teen pregnancies and early marriages significantly drop.
Ochola was speaking on Monday at the sidelines of a two days meeting at a Garissa hotel that brought together clerics, teachers, bodaboda riders, local administrators, male students as well as opinion leaders to review the progress made in the fight against teenage pregnancy and early marriages.
The Somali is largely patriarchal community with many especially the rural folks preferring to educate boys and marrying off girls.
A campaign to promote girl child spearheaded by FAWE Kenya in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation for the last four years has started bear fruit.
“I am happy to report that since 2022 to date we have not reported a single teenage pregnancy incidence in the entire schools that we are working with as FAWE. That one alone tells you that we have made progress,” Ochola said.
He was however quick to point out that the fact that the number of girls in school was still low and called for a concerted effort from all stakeholders noting that it should start at the community level which should first embrace girl child education.
“We are calling upon the Somali men and boys especially those who are yet to embrace girl child education to please get out and allow their daughters and women to participate in education and community matters,” he added.
He said that FAWE with the help of other stakeholders is working hard to make sure that all girls currently out of school are re-entered back.
“Our main aim is to empower boys and our young men to be our champion when it comes to girl child issues especially education. Give them the space to speak and the opportunity to go to school. We want equity where each and every one is given a space in the society,” he noted.
Chrispus Mukumbu, the programmes coordinator Imarisha Mschina project said that we all have a role to play in helping girls acquire quality education for sustainable development.
Mukumbu said that one of the key objective of the Imarisha programme is to deliberately engage young men to be champions of girl child education.
“And that is why we are holding such meetings. To impact skills and knowledge in the minds of these young boys and men and have a mindset change,” Mukumbu said.
“I am happy to report that the boys in Garissa have started to understand why they need to give our girls a chance to access education something that was not there before,” he aaded.
Joseph Muthui a teacher at Banane primary said that the biggest challenge hindering girl child education was illiteracy among the parents who are yet to appreciate the importance of educating a girl in the family.
“When you interact with parents especially in the villages they don’t understand the importance of a girl. To change the mindset of such a parent requires a collective effort from all stakeholders,” Muthui said.
Sheikh Hussein Hamisi while thanking FAWE Kenya for the programmes called on fellow religious and political leaders to show commitment and sincerity in promoting girl child education noting in most cases the words are not backed with actions.
By Jacob Songok
