Pregnant teenage students are not being encouraged by their schools to pursue their education, according to a study published by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality.

The overwhelming majority of teen parents questioned for the study indicated that their school did not try to accommodate them or encourage them to carry on studying.

The students also said that the school did not try to direct them to any service or to another form of education.

A small percentage received guidance or counselling and were directed to Unit Għożża.

The findings of the two-year research project were launched yesterday by the NCPE during a half-day conference. The study centred upon the life prospects of teenage parents and looked into the challenges they faced as well as their perceptions, attitudes and views.

Only just over half of the participants had educational aspirations for the future, with some feeling “they do not need to” and others saying they did not have enough time to juggle between their parenting duties and studying.

The teenage parents’ views on job prospects were generally negative. They pointed out there were no child-care services dedicated to teenage parents that would help them to further their studies.

The majority of those who were in paid employment at the time of the interview indicated that they had no convenient and affordable childcare facility close to their place of work.

The majority of the teens surveyed confessed they regretted becoming teenage parents, with their main regrets being related to education, restricted freedom, the change in their lifestyle and having to stop working.

While 93 per cent pointed out they received formal sex education at school, only 67 per cent said they knew at the time how people got pregnant and how contraception worked.

According to the study, a “worrying” one third claimed they did not start taking contraceptive measures even after their experience of becoming parents.

Over half of the respondents’ parents never broached the topics of relationships and sex before their children became parents themselves, while an even higher number never discussed methods of contraception.

Most complained that the monthly government benefit was not enough while others noted that benefits are “highly abused” in Malta, especially due to the fact that they are not given in full if the father’s name is written on the child’s birth certificate.

Nearly four in 10 of the respondents said the father played no role in the daily care of the child, with the study concluding that this number “points to the low importance given to the father’s role within our social policy and culture in general”.

Significantly, teenage parents believed that the most useful services and support structures would be free child-care facilities, the provision of free nappies and milk, more financial benefits from the Government and more shelters like Dar Ġużeppa Debono in Gozo.

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