Saturday, 4th July 2009
Schoolgirl pregnancies
The news that 28 schoolgirls between the ages of 13 and 15 became pregnant during the past scholastic year is rather worrying.
While I am glad to note that such girls are receiving all the help necessary from the Ghozza Unit of the Education Division, I feel that this is a case where prevention is better than cure.
Obviously, this is not an easy problem to solve, far from it. Girls in the higher forms of secondary schools are easy prey to the temptation of "adventures" with the opposite sex. Furthermore, it is a fact that such students are bombarded by the media with the message that "it's cool" to have an active sex life.
How many films does one see where a man meets a woman and the next scene sees them in bed having sex? Unfortunately, schoolgirls are sometimes not yet mature enough to understand the difference between the world of cinema and real life where one pays a very heavy price for one's mistakes.
One problem that can be tackled
The problem of schoolgirls who become pregnant will always be with us because it concerns the weakness of human nature.
However, we can at least try to improve the present situation in Malta. I have written many times about the dangers faced by schoolgirls who walk alone to school and back. I have lived near a Girls' Junior Lyceum for many years now and I have noticed how several girls usually meet much older males when they are at a safe distance away from the school and cannot be seen by members of the administration and the teaching staff.
On many occasions, such girls get into cars with these persons and are driven away, probably to be sexually exploited while their parents are unaware of what is going on behind their backs. I know of cases where Form 1 girls have started such relationships.
Now I am not saying that only such schoolgirls run a heavy risk of becoming pregnant, since it is also a fact that girls go out during the weekend and meet boys at places of entertainment. Still, this particular problem could be better tackled if stricter control of a school's perimeter were to be enforced and parents were to be more careful and alert to possible dangers in the case of their children who walk to school and back.
A case for compassion
Schoolgirls who become pregnant should get all the help they can get from all members of society. I cannot stick such arguments as those based on the premise that a schoolgirl should avoid getting pregnant in the first place and, therefore, she should bear the full consequences of her folly.
Such reasoning is not worthy of citizens of a European Union country. It is also not worthy of anybody professing to be a Catholic.
We adults should start by pointing a finger at ourselves and question how our society has reached a point where children are bombarded with messages that everything is relative, that the best kind of life is the one that panders to consumerism and selfish materialism, that self-gratification should come first and foremost in the aims of one's life.
When one reflects on all this, one realizes what hypocrites are those people who show no compassion towards young and immature persons who have made what is probably the first serious mistake in their lives.
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These are two nursery rhymes that they did not teach us when you and I were at school.
Jack and Jill went up the hill to have a little fun.
Stupid Jill forgot the pill and now they have a son.
Georgie Porgy pudding and pie kissed the girls and made them cry.
And when the boys came out to play, He kissed them too 'cause he was gay.
I asked Wikiwiki for a solution to our problem and they recommended the wearing of a chastity belt.
“A chastity belt is a locking item of clothing designed to prevent sexual intercourse. They may be used to protect the wearer from rape or temptation. Some devices have been designed with additional features to prevent masturbation. Chastity belts have been created for males and females.”
There’s an obvious typing error there, what I wanted to say was:- Does anybody believe that any 15 year old today is not fully aware that the act of sexual intercourse does carry the attendant risk of getting pregnant?
Do schoolgirls of other faiths have a lesser propensity of becoming pregnant?
Abstention is number one pregnancy preventer.
Education is tool number two.
Good parenthood is a prerequisite.
Many countries have the same or worse problem with teen pregnancies even if school washrooms are stocked with condom machines and other contraceptive devices and sex education is started as early as grade three. These same countries also have somewhat generous 'single mothers' allowances'.
Those who regularly receive jokes through the Internet are probably familiar with the one where a mother went to the welfare office to register another newborn child. The officer asked for a complete list of the seven children's names. Her answer was 'John' - all seven of them! The officer then asked, 'if you call John all seven will respond, but if you want a particular 'John' how does he know you are calling him?' That's easy, she answered, I call him by his last name!'
Although this kind of joke is meant to cause a chuckle, if it becomes the reality of the day, it becomes a serious matter and worthy of immediate concern.
Does anybody believe that any 15 year old today is not fully aware that the act of sexual intercourse doesn’t carry the attendant risk of the girl getting pregnant? Does anybody believe that this age group is not conversant with condoms or have difficulties to buy them? Are we, grownups, so naive?
"There is only one place in the entire world like Malta, The Philippine Islands" comment was meant to be seen on Nikita's blog. You now have your answer there.
Where have I declared myself as a Roman Catholic? Well at least after having shown such narrow minded generalisation of the matter in hand, it's good to know you're not the kind who would declare being so.
So is it just the young females who seduce the "poor innocent" 18 yr old males? Why generalise? I'm quite sure that's not the whole and only picture. And indeed, if an 18 yr old male becomes excited at the sight of a mini skirt or some cleavage, he's either never been out of the house, or he's never watched tv or surfed the internet.
There is only one place in the entire world like Malta, The Philippine Islands
I hope you're not one that calls himself a Roman Catholic whilst uttering such an opinion.
I believe the stigma Maltese society has attributed to sexual education and the use of condoms is one of the main problems. The Church can lecture as much as it likes on abstinence, people can talk as much as they like on their disapproval of "today's this and today's that". Fact is people are engaging in sexual relationships at a younger age - when they cannot really think of consequences, especially if buying condoms is still considered as a sin by a good chunk of the population.
However the most serious aspect of these pregnancies is that they betray the lack of proper sex education in our schools.
Getting pregnant means that when these girls practice sex they do not use a condom.
To get pregnant when a girl is still at school is not a luaghing matter.
The worrying statistics suggest many of these girls are being infected with venereal disease since they are not using any protection.
The Education Department should no longer kow tow to the Church authorities. It should enbark on a mass campaign to educate girls to use condoms.
Uganda managed to reduce HIV cases by almost 5O per cent because woman sex educators were openely showing girls how to use condoms.
Pictures of condoms are splashed all over the schools there. There are many other countries, without the constraints of a conservative church, that opening advertise condoms.
not only to avoid unwanted prregnancies,but above all , the arrest the spread of HIV and other venereal disease
Minister Cristina, must be bold and show courage and leadership in this matter.