Petrina Francis, Education ReporterSCHOOLBOYS WHO impregnate their female peers should be mandated by law to provide financially and emotionally for the child.
Speaking at a Gleaner Editor's forum last Wednesday, Suzanne Brown who became pregnant at age 15 said, "focus is always on the girls, boys and men become an invisible group".
Miss Brown, whose pregnancy resulted from her liaison with a schoolmate said that it is always the girls who have to "face the wrath" of their communities, and walk around with their big bellies while the boys get away "scotch free".
While the current education code does not speak to excluding a boy from school because he gets a girl pregnant, Miss Brown stated that it takes two to tangle, therefore boys should leave the school and get a job and should not be allowed to stay in the school while the girls stay at home. Miss Brown later told The Sunday Gleaner in an interview that "in a situation like this (getting pregnant) girls learn from their mistakes and they become more responsible".
She, however, believes that boys do not learn because the school or the society does not punish them and there behaviour is thus viewed as normal. Schoolboys, she noted, continue to believe it is right to have sex regardless of the implications. It is a behaviour which many carry into adulthood.
"If they are properly sanctioned, they would be more responsible and accountable," Miss Brown said.
Meanwhile, Coleen Douglas Thompson, personal relations manager for the Bureau of Women's Affairs, does not believe that it is the majority of schoolboys who are getting girls pregnant. However, in as much as she thinks that boys should be responsible if a schoolgirl gets pregnant, she does not believe that "the solution is to take them out of school".
She said boys are not mature enough and the possibility of getting a job is unlikely since they are not qualified. The best solution, is for parents of the students to come to a mutual agreement as to how the child will be taken care of until the boy leaves school.
Solomon McCalla, interim president of Fathers Inc. supported Mrs. Douglas Thompson's views.
"You have put a halt on somebody's life (pregnant teenager) so why put a halt on the boy's life?" Mr. McCalla asked. He believes that the boy should remain in school but should have a moral as well as a physical responsibility to support the child as much as possible. "If you take him out of school he might not get a job."
Mr. McCalla says the best solution to the problem is for the guidance counsellor of the school to monitor the boy and ensure that he is physically present and bonding with his child.
Responding to the question of who should be held financially responsible, Mr. McCalla said "the parents of the boy and the girl because none of them is working.
While acknowledging that it is difficult for parents to assume this role because they already raised their children, he said, "You can't allow them to suffer..
Still, Evelyn Jones, a teacher at a rural high school, agrees with Miss Brown that boys should leave school and get a job to finance his child.
"Definitely," she said firmly. "Everybody usually thinks that it's the girl's fault. She has to stop from school, he needs to leave school as well and get a job. He needs to take the responsibility of knowing how to be a man."
She does not think that it's the responsibility of the parents' of the students to look after the child. She feels both parties need to realise that they have a responsibility to look after the child that they are bringing forth.
Teenage pregnancy, though not a new phenomenon, affects girls' education. In 2003, the Women's Centre assisted 1,383 adolescent mothers. Of this number, 844 of the girls were in the 16 and under age group.
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