500 pregnant high school girls in Benin

The Benin News Agency (ABP) from Cotonou reported that during the 2019-2020 school year, more than 500 pregnancies were registered in the high schools of the northeastern Borgu department in Benin.

“Overall, 547 of the 36,487 regularly registered schoolgirls were pregnant during the 2019-2020 school year, compared with 431 cases in 2018-2019,” ABP said, citing Thomas Adam, a spokesperson for Child Protection. secondary and vocational and the ministry of technical training.

Adam attributed the increase in pregnancies to the long break in classes seen during the coronavirus pandemic.

While no strategy related to the phenomenon has yet been released, some analysts in Benin’s society fear that the COVID-19 crisis has influenced measures taken to eradicate early pregnancy in schools.

Source: – The Nation