‘Adolescent pregnancy correlated with education’

LUCKNOW: Early marriage, coupled with adolescent pregnancy, is putting a large number of girls in India at risk – physically and mentally.

Though there has been a decline in cases of pregnancy among girls in age group 15-19 years from 16% to 8% at national level (as per the national family health survey report), the number is still high, particularly in some states, said experts at the workshop by Unicef on Tuesday.

“In Uttar Pradesh, the rate of adolescent pregnancy is up to 7%, but in West Bengal it is higher and in Tripura it is 17%,” said Dr Gagan Gupta, health expert, Unicef. Interestingly, adolescent pregnancy has a correlation with education. In many cases, girls drop out of schools while switching over from primary education to secondary education and are married at this stage. A large number of girls stop education as schools for their secondary education are located far from their homes and parents decline further

support to their studies, said experts. “Eight years of continuous education for girls is a milestone, which if achieved, can bring down the incidence of adolescent pregnancy. If there is a break, there are chances of them getting married,” said Dr Gupta.

Poverty and lack of awareness are two other key factors that need focus to bring down early pregnancy among girls. Experts say girls at the age of 15 are not physically or mentally fit for marriage and pregnancy.

“You will find families getting their daughters married at an early age as they fear that they will need more money for dowry as the girl’s age progresses,” said Dr Neelam Singh, head of ‘Vatsalya’, an NGO working for women empowerment.

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Eight years of continuous education for girls is a milestone, which if achieved, can bring down the incidence of adolescent pregnancy. If there is a break, there are chances of them getting married

DR GAGAN GUPTA, expert, UNICEF