This archive report was first published on 10 July 2020.
On July 10, 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a directive to ensure pregnant schoolgirls access free pre and post-natal care, as revealed by Education Chief Administrative Secretary Zack Kinuthia.
The presidential directive, which has been relayed to all County Commissioners, requires chiefs and their assistants to register all pregnant schoolgirls and ensure they do not miss out on maternal healthcare.
According to Mr Kinuthia, the president is concerned that due to social stigma, many teenage girls who conceive may fail to receive maternal care, exacerbating the current crisis and leading to birth-related complications.
The directive also stipulates that administrators reveal the identities of those behind the pregnancies, acknowledging that many pregnant minors live under threat from their perpetrators.
Mr Kinuthia emphasized that the data from the registration exercise will help ensure that all school-going girls can resume learning once they deliver.
"We are putting our act together as a government and we will seal all these loopholes...We will hit back hard and furiously. But at the same time, the society, starting at the nuclear family, must also play its role in battling this menace," he said.
