Authorities report more than 500 pregnancy cases in secondary schools

More than 500 pregnancies were recorded in secondary schools of Benin Republic’s northeastern department of Borgou during the 2019-2020 school year, the Beninese news agency (ABP) reported from Cotonou.

Read Also: NCDC reports 418 new COVID-19 cases

“Altogether, 547 out of 36,487 school girls regularly registered were pregnant during the 2019-2020 school year as against 431 cases in 2018-2019,” ABP reported, quoting Thomas Adam, a Representative of the child protection department of Secondary education and professional and technical training ministry.

Adam attributed the increase in the cases of pregnancies to the long cessation of classes observed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Read Also: Salah’s Penalty Kick Salvages Draw for off-key Liverpool at Fulham

Although no strategy linked to the phenomenon was yet made public, several analysts of the Beninese society fear that the crisis linked to the COVID-19 affected the measures taken to eradicate early pregnancies in schools.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for the unconditional release of all the children abducted by gunmen at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State in North-West Nigeria.

The call is contained in a statement issued by UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Marie-Pierre Poirier, and made available to newsmen in Katsina.

Recall that the children were abducted on Friday night from the boarding school.

Read Also: Hackers targeting U.S. treasury, govt agencies

The statement said in part: “UNICEF condemns in the strongest possible terms this brutal attack and calls for the immediate release of all children and their return to their families.

“UNICEF is deeply concerned about this act of violence. Attacks on schools are a violation of children’s rights.

“Children should feel safe at home, in schools and in their playgrounds at all times.

“We stand with the families of the missing children and the community affected by this horrifying event.”

The director acknowledged the efforts of the Nigerian government in ensuring the safe return of all the missing children.

Though some of the students had returned, the state government, however, said it was still searching for the remaining.

Read Also: ‘Sanwo-Olu Is Recovering From Covid-19’–Health Commissioner