s

Effect of Teenage Pregnancy Consequences on

Academic Attainment of Girls in Selected Public
Secondary Schools Case of Nyaruguru District,
Rwanda

Uwamahoro Bruce, Mr. Letanzio Mugo & Dr.

Mukamazimpaka Marie Claire

ISSN: 2616-8383
Stratford Peer Reviewed Journals and Book Publishing
Journal of Education
Volume 3||Issue 5||Page 72-80 |October||2020|
Email: [email protected] ISSN: 2616-8383

Effect of Teenage Pregnancy Consequences on

Academic Attainment of Girls in Selected Public
Secondary Schools Case of Nyaruguru District,
Rwanda
1*
Uwamahoro Bruce, 2Mr. Letanzio Mugo & 3Dr. Mukamazimpaka Marie Claire
1*
Post graduate student, Mount Kenya University-Rwanda, Department of Education
Management and curriculum Studies
2
School of Education, Mount Kenya University - Rwanda
3
Dean, School of Education, Mount Kenya University - Rwanda
* Email of the corresponding author: [email protected]

How to cite this article: Bruce, U., Mugo, L., & Claire, M., M. (2020). Effect of Teenage
Pregnancy Consequences on Academic Attainment of Girls in Selected Public Secondary
Schools Case of Nyaruguru District, Rwanda. Journal of Education 3(5), 72-80

Abstract
Teenage pregnancy consequences remain a complex problem on girls ‘academic attainment in
secondary schools. The main objective of the study was to find out the effect of teenage
pregnancy consequences on academic attainment of girls in public secondary schools in
Nyaruguru. The specific objectives were: to determine teenage pregnancy consequences that
girls of public secondary schools of Nyaruguru district face, to assess the level of academic
attainment and investigate the effect of teenage pregnancy consequences on academic attainment
of girls in Public secondary schools of Nyaruguru district. Questionnaire and interview methods
were used for gathering the needed information. Questionnaires were administered among 105
mothers who dropped out after pregnancy and interview to 40 head teachers from all schools with
pregnancy drop out cases. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select the respondents.
Quantitative data was gathered using questionnaire and structured interview for qualitative data.
This study employed descriptive and correlational design. Early marriage, low self-esteem,
discrimination from family, separation with former friend at school and isolation from other
students are teenage pregnancy consequences that girls in public secondary schools face. The low
academic performance, frequent absenteeism and school dropout are the level of academic
attainment indicators of pregnant teen girls in public secondary schools of Nyaruguru. Teenage
pregnancy consequences contribute 75.2% of the academic attainment. The study recommended
education officials, parents and schools leaders to help pregnant schools girls complete their
studies.
Keywords: Teenage Pregnancy Consequences, academic attainment, public secondary schools,

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Getting pregnant of teenagers and its associated consequences is a complex worldwide issue
(Sylvia, 2016). In large area of the world age of marriage has been traditionally low depending
on economies and societies. Due to that reason high number of girls get married few days after
girls’ first period, as a result a great number of children were born from teen mothers (WHO,
2004).Countries either with advanced economy like America or developing world nations, this
issue has become a challenge to the countries’ makers of policies and all providers of human-
related service due to its effects on community and country (Grunseit, 2007).The high number of
adolescent mothers (60%) are possessed by the US, however there is a meaningful difference in
adolescent pregnancy between developed and developing countries. The average of adolescents
birth rate of the United State is approximately four times the average of the European Union
(Sylvia, 2016).
The countries in sub-Saharan region possessed the greatest number of females who get pregnant
under 19 years old (Mkwananzi, 2015). Reproduction of adolescents females occupied the
highest percentage, more than a half of all child births rate in the entire region. An estimation of
101 children births in 1000 birth is occupied by the adolescents between 15to 19 years old.
According to NISR (2016), 7% of females aged 15-19 have already become mothers in Rwanda,
but this percentage is less than the other Sub-Saharan African countries. It was suggested by
Maembo (2018) that the disturbing and discouraging effects of teenage pregnancy negatively
affects girls' students to continue their education particularly. . Many studies agreed that a high
number of teenagers left the schools as the consequences of pregnancy effects. A study carried
out in Kenya in 1985 revealed that 10% of girls students left schools because of teenage
pregnancy. In 1996, 11, 000 girls in Kenya left the schools and never back as the results of
getting pregnant.
1.2 Problem Statement
Adolescent Pregnancy continues to be a worldwide complex problem. Many countries have
developed the strategies for its prevention (Hadley, 2018), however secondary school pregnant
teenagers are still facing its associated consequences, including consequences from the family of
the teenager (rejection and discrimination from their families), consequences from the teenage
mother ( early marriage, low self-esteem and health problems), consequences from school life
(separation with former friends and isolation from other students) and consequences from
community ( lack of support from community and underestimation from community ) (WHO,
2020).
Many researches argued that the high number of teenagers drop out of schools as a results of
getting pregnant (Gyepi, 1985). This was supported by Haguruka (2018) that the girls who got
pregnant while they were in school only 5% of them continued to be the students. According to
David (2018), as consequences of getting pregnant on the education of girls who are expecting to
give birth to babies, their performance decreased compared to the academic performance before
pregnancy.
The latest RDS has proven that, however pregnancies among adolescents decreased from 11% in
1992 to 4% in 2005, it has raised from 6 percent in 2010 and reached 7% in 2014-2015.

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According to NISR ( 2014), Southern province was the highest in teenage mothers rate and
2014-15 Rwanda demographic health survey showed that in the total number of 15 -19 aged girls,
around 7% of them have already gave birth in Rwanda. Southern province is at 6% of girls
between 15 and 19 who have already begun childbearing. Nyaruguru is one of the district in
Southern province with 7% of girls who have begun childbearing (NISR, 2016) . Nyaruguru as
one of the districts with high number of pregnant teenagers constitute a good area for this
research.
1.3 Research Questions
i. What are the teenage pregnancy consequences that girls of public secondary schools of
Nyaruguru district face?
ii. What is the level of academic attainment indicators of pregnant teens in public secondary
schools of Nyaruguru district?
iii. What is the effect of teenage pregnancy consequences on academic attainments of girls in
public secondary schools of Nyaruguru district?

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Teenage Pregnancy Consequences that Girls Face
2.1.1 Consequences from Pregnant Teenager
According to Baatsen e.t a.l (2017), despite the lack of education and employment opportunity, a
prominent cause for adolescent girls to be married is getting pregnant. PLAN (2017) revealed that
adolescent pregnancy out of marriage is the cause early marriage. This research suggested that
the pregnancy for young unmarried girls followed by unintentional marriage due to pressure from
the community in which they live.
McCue (2018) suggested that teenagers very often make a questionable choice which is not
important for themselves. A teenage mother also experiences doubt, low self-esteem, uncertainty,
loneliness and powerlessness than their colleagues do. An investigation conducted by Hall (2017)
opined that teenage mother feel guilty and depressed in view of increasing responsibility.(Sylvia,
2016)
2.1.2 Consequences from the Family of the Teenager
Rejection and discrimination of pregnant adolescents in their families has been the big-gest
challenge which affect education of pregnant girls. Culturally a girl who becomes pregnant
before getting married was considered as curse and sometimes drown in water to die. Some
people still believe in this culture and can’t accept teenage pregnancy easily as a result, the
families expel their daughters after pregnancy or discriminate them in other family members
(UNFPA, 2018).
2.1.3 Consequences from the School Life
Getting pregnant for school girls separates teenagers from their friends before pregnancy, due to
the reason that their thinking is no longer the same (Ellis, 2018). Teenage mother find that when
they attend schools after getting pregnant, many of their old friends are not interested in
collaborating with them or not want to associate with them.The other students stigmatize them
because of pregnancy (Nkosi & Edmarie, 2019). These girls miss their friends and feel lonely.

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Stratford Peer Reviewed Journals and Book Publishing
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Email: [email protected] ISSN: 2616-8383

Wilson (2001) argued that creating new friendship is not easy for some of them because of
limited time available, as most of their time outside of school is spent on finding the basic needs
for living as most of them are rejected by their families and community, which results into low
academic performance, school absenteeism and school dropout.
2.2 Academic Attainment Indicators
2.2.1 Teenage Pregnancy and School Attendance
The high repetition of absence from school ends up in missing many schools activities including:
assignments, lessons and tests (Bhana, 2010).According to Moyagabo (2012) Frequent
absenteeism can be an indicator of pregnancy as well as associated symptoms. Evidence from the
research carried out by Nkosi & Edmarie (2019) argues that pregnant teenagers attend school
irregularly which led to dropout
2.2.2 Teenage Pregnancy and Academic Performance
Charles (2013) found that 62.8% of the respondents were performing well before the pregnancy
and 51.4% of research participants reported poor performance after pregnancy, the study was
interested to know the cause and found that their confidence and their socialization became low
after pregnancy. Through these findings, it was argued by the research that there is potential
correlation between adolescence pregnancy and the academic performance (Charles, 2013).
2.2.3 Teenage Pregnancy and School Completion
A study carried out by Duglas (2017) argued that teenage pregnancy is particularly affecting the
educational attainment of girls and, as results a big number of pregnant school adolescents leave
the schools. According to Charles (2013) Adolescent pregnancy is considered as factor leading to
leaving the school for many girl students.

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Teenage Pregnancy Consequences

Consequences from Pregnant
Teenager
 Early marriage
 Low self-esteem Academic Attainment
Consequences from the Family of the  Low academic performance
Teenager  Frequent absenteeism
 Discrimination by the family  School dropout
 Rejection by the family
Consequences from the School Life
 Separation with former friends
 Isolation from other students
 Isolation from peer


 School internal rules and

regulations
 Family background relations
 School calendar
 School environment
 School infrastructures

Intervening variables

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

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3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study used both descriptive and correlational research design. Target population was 105
mothers who dropped out after pregnancy and 40 head teachers from the schools with teenage
pregnancy dropout cases. Purposive sampling was used to select 105 mothers and 40 head
teachers. Questionnaire and interview were used as data collection instruments
4.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The findings for each specific objective were gathered from 105 mothers and 40 head teachers.
Questionnaire was distributed among mothers and structured interview was conducted to the head
teachers.
4.1 What Are the Teenage Pregnancy Consequences that Girls of Public secondary schools
of Nyaruguru District Face?
The opinion of mothers who dropped out of school after pregnancy is presented in Table 1
Table 1: Opinion of Mothers who dropped out of School after Pregnancy
Yes No Mean & Std
Statement
Freq % Freq % Mean Std

Early marriage 57 54.3 48 45.7 1.46 0.501

Low self-esteem 93 88.6 12 11.4 1.11 0.32

Rejection by the family 46 43.8 59 56.2 1.56 0.499

Discrimination from the family 93 88.6 12 11.4 1.11 0.32

Separation with former friends at school 88 83.8 17 16.2 1.13 0.342

Isolation from the other students 91 86.7 14 13.3 1.13 0.342

The results presented in Table 1, reveals that the mothers who got pregnant early faced the
following consequences: Low self-esteem, 93 (88.6%), mean and standard deviation of 1.11 and
0.320 revealed that their self-esteem became low after getting pregnant, discrimination from
family, 93(88.6%) mothers, mean and standard deviation of 1.11 and 0.320 said that they were
discriminated by their families after pregnancy, isolation from other students, 91 (86.7%)
respondents, mean 1.13 and standard deviation of 0.342 reported that they face isolation from
other students after getting pregnant, separation with former friends at school, 88 (83.8%) with
mean of 1.13 and standard deviation of 0.342 said that their friends at school left them after
pregnancy and early marriage, 57 (54.3%) of them, mean and standard deviation of 1.46 and
0.501 accepted that they got married because of getting pregnant. Rejection by the family was
supported by 46 (43.8%), mean of 1.56 and standard deviation of 0.499. which means that the
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majority of the participants contradicted rejection by the family as the consequence faced by
pregnant teens.
The interview conducted to the headteachers supported the mothers’ view about teenage
pregnancy consequences that girls in public secondary schools face as shown in Table 1. The
results concur with the findings of Baatsen et al (2017) who established that despite lack of
education and employment opportunity, the prominent cause for adolescent women to be married
is getting pregnant. Also, McCue (2018) suggested that teenage mother experiences self-esteem.
4.2 What is the Level of Academic Attainment Indicators of Pregnant Teens in Public
secondary schools of Nyaruguru District?
The results depicted in Table 2 presents opinion of mothers about their academic attainment after
pregnancy.
Table 2: Opinion of Mothers about their Academic Attainment after Pregnancy
Yes No Mean & Std
Statement
Freq % Freq % Mean Std

Low performance after pregnancy 87 82.9 18 17.1 1.17 0.38

Frequent absenteeism after

92 87.6 13 12.4 1.12 0.331
pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy the cause of
105 100.0 0.00 100.0 1.00 0.00
dropout

According to results in Table 2, It was revealed by the respondents that 105 (100%), mean and
standard deviation of 1.00 and 0.00, which means that no one dropped out for the other reason,
but pregnancy. Table 4.6 argues that 92(87.6%), mean and standard deviation of 1.12 and 0.331
ascertained that they were frequently absent in the class after getting pregnant, while 87 (82.9%),
mean of 1.17 and standard deviation of 0.38, showed that there performance were low after
pregnancy.
The perceptions of the headteachers about the level of academic attainment indicators of pregnant
teens in public secondary schools of nyaruguru district are the same as the findings from
quantitative data as illustrated by the table 4.2. The present findings are in line with the study
carried out by Charles (2013) which found that 62.8% of the respondents were performing well
before pregnancy and 51.4% of research participants reported poor performance after pregnancy.
Further, Moyagabo (2012) said that frequent absenteeism can be an indicator of pregnancy as
well as associated symptoms.

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4.3 What is the Effect of Teenage Pregnancy Consequences on Academic Attainments of

Girls in Public secondary schools of Nyaruguru District?
The R-Square of teenage pregnancy consequences and academic attainment of girls is shown in
Table 3
Table 3: The R-Square of Teenage Pregnancy Consequences and Academic Attainment of
Girls

Std. Change Statistics

R Adjusted Error of
Model R R
Square R Square the F Sig. F
Estimate Square df1 df2
Change Change
Change
1 .867a .752 .739 .163 .752 59.961 5 99 .000

The findings indicated in Table 3 shows that the effect of teenage pregnancy consequences on
academic attainment of girls. It was indicated by the study findings the R-square is 0.752 which
means that the contribution of independent variable on academic attainment of girls is 75.2%.
The interview supported the information provided by mothers through questionnaire. Referring to
the view provided by the head teachers, it was evidenced that teenage pregnancy consequences
greatly affect academic attainment of pregnant teenagers. According to Charles (2013), there is
potential correlation between consequences from pregnancy in adolescence and girls’ academic
attainment.
5.0 CONCLUSION
Based on the main objective of the study which was to find the effect of teenage pregnancy
consequences on academic attainment of girls in public secondary schools of Nyaruguru district,
it was found that that teenage pregnancy consequences affect academic attainment of girls in
pubic secondary schools at 72.5%.
6.0 RECOMMENDATION
The following recommendations were made based on the findings of the study
.i. The teenagers should think on the consequences that are associated with teenage pregnancy
before the situation which involve them in sexual intercourse.
ii. Parents should regularly find a time to discuss with their children about the consequences of
becoming pregnant in adolescent age, including low academic attainment.
iii. The school leaders should help in system which supports the pregnant teens at school.
Through this system, attention and special care should be ensured to pregnant teens in order to
help them to finish secondary schools.
iv. The education officials should be the first to help the schools to establish the school
based strategies for preventing teenage pregnancy and teenage pregnancy consequences

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