The minister of education and training Mrs. Mamookho Phiri says 21% of adolescent girls in the country drop out of school due to pregnancy.
Phiri said most of the rural adolescent girls especially those from poor households, start child bearing at an early age than others, which is also a contributing factor to them dropping out, saying, her ministry is in the process of finalizing the prevention and management of learner pregnancy policy of 2021, through the support of UNFPA.
Phiri also stated that, there are Lesotho Education Quality for Equality and Lesotho Basic improvements projects which are targeting schools at hard to reach areas, aimed at discouraging absenteeism and dropping out.
She also indicated that, according to the Lesotho 2014 Demographic survey, 13% of young women and 6% of young men live with HIV, attributing this to lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and low risk perceptions amongst the young population.
1st Dec 2021