Preparing adolescents for adulthood

Pregnancy-related school dropouts have become a matter of public concern throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In most cases, schoolgirls who become pregnant either have to resort to unsafe illegal abortions, or they face official school expulsion. Because girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy usually do not return to school to complete their education after the birth of their child, their opportunities for socioeconomic advancement are limited. Many African governments have included family life education programs in the school curriculum in an attempt to educate adolescents about the consequences and responsibilities associated with sexual activity. The high rates of schoolgirl pregnancies suggest that these programs have their shortcomings, and indicate that educational policies should attempt not only to reduce the incidence of schoolgirl pregnancies, but also to assist pregnant schoolgirls to complete their education. In this paper, we use data from a sample of 154 Kenyan primary and secondary schools to study differentials in the extent to which various types of schools are affected by pregnancy-related school dropouts, and to examine the opinions of the head teachers regarding teaching about contraceptive methods and readmittance of pregnancy-related dropouts.