‘School drop-out cases create knowledge gap’

Youth Net and Counselling (Yoneco) has said the high school drop out rate by teen mothers deprives them of knowledge and skills to overcome poverty.

Yoneco project officer Michael Sumani made the observation in Zomba on Wednesday during training of 30 life skills facilitators for teen mothers at St Michael’s Primary School in Traditional Authority Mwambo’s area.

He said lack of these skills and knowledge eventually starts another cycle of poverty in their families which increases their vulnerability to HIV and Aids as they try to survive by engaging in transactional sex.

Said Sumani: “Teen mothers belong to vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups that are too young to be formal women in sexual reproductive and health, HIV and Aids prevention activities as they are too old to be in the young people’s clubs because of the experience they went through.”

He added that the life skills training for teen mothers is vital as it will equip them with necessary skills to support their fellow teen mothers, which is essential for achievement of youth development outcomes.