Kavango West Urges Action on Rising School Dropouts and Teenage Pregnancies
Pontianus Musore, the Director of Education for Kavango West, has called for urgent, coordinated efforts among schools, families, communities, and health services to address a sharp increase in school dropouts and teenage pregnancies in 2025. Recent data reveals that learner dropouts surged from 809 in 2024 to 1,460 in 2025, while teenage pregnancies rose from 273 to 332 during the same period. The circuits of Ncuncuni, Bunya, and Nzinze reported the highest dropout rates, with Ncuncuni also leading in teenage pregnancies. Musore identified poverty, weak parental involvement, delays in school feeding programs, and gaps in reproductive health knowledge as primary drivers of this trend. He emphasized that economic hardship forces many children into labor or household duties, while cultural taboos limit access to essential sexual health information for girls. To combat these issues, Musore advocated for intensified life skills and sex education, the use of peer educators, and stronger links to local health services for counseling and contraception. The directive stresses that preventing these outcomes requires united action beyond the classroom to ensure learners complete their education.
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Kavango West Urges Action on Rising School Dropouts and Teenage Pregnancies
Pontianus Musore, the Director of Education for Kavango West, has called for urgent, coordinated efforts among schools, families, communities, and health services to address a sharp increase in school dropouts and teenage pregnancies in 2025. Recent data reveals that learner dropouts surged from 809 in 2024 to 1,460 in 2025, while teenage pregnancies rose from 273 to 332 during the same period. The circuits of Ncuncuni, Bunya, and Nzinze reported the highest dropout rates, with Ncuncuni also leading in teenage pregnancies. Musore identified poverty, weak parental involvement, delays in school feeding programs, and gaps in reproductive health knowledge as primary drivers of this trend. He emphasized that economic hardship forces many children into labor or household duties, while cultural taboos limit access to essential sexual health information for girls. To combat these issues, Musore advocated for intensified life skills and sex education, the use of peer educators, and stronger links to local health services for counseling and contraception. The directive stresses that preventing these outcomes requires united action beyond the classroom to ensure learners complete their education.
The Namibian