Boda boda on the spot over school dropouts

SIAYA, KENYA: Every morning when she sees her peers pass by her home on their way to school, 17-year-old Karen stares into the empty distance with a heavy heart.

Orphaned at 10, Karen has been living with her maternal grandparents ever since she found life unbearable at her parents’ home. The humble family was strictly religious, and her guardians expected her to finish school, get a job and rescue them from poverty. This was her focus until she met Paul one rainy morning. All she had was Sh50 she had been given by her grandmother for the family’s supper. But she needed fare to school because she woke up late.

Paul, a boda boda (motorcycle) rider she had seen around, offered her a free ride, but insisted she could pay him another day. In the evening, Karen was surprised to see Paul come back for her.

This became a routine for some time, but Karen accepted the free rides without questions. Soon, Paul was offering her money for lunch, and even for her daily needs. She was not surprised when Paul one day asked for a discreet affair.

She knew at least five friends who were involved in ‘affairs’ with older, or married men. In Form Two, she was among the brightest students in Siaya County who had attracted a full scholarship from a well-wisher abroad. For some time, she played hard-to-get but a friend urged her on, “since there was nothing to lose”. She agreed half-heartedly, promising herself to be extra careful.

This decision returned to haunt her after six months of the affair. One Monday morning, a routine medical check-up at the school revealed she was two-months pregnant. She informed Paul about it that evening and he assured her that all would be alright, but the next day, he was nowhere to be seen.

Today, as she cuddles her little daughter, she can’t help but regret the day she accepted that free ride to school. The school has agreed to take her back, but she will have lost a year of study.

Karen is among a growing number of young girls who are duped into relationships and then abandoned the minute they get pregnant in Siaya County, according to a recent University of Nairobi study.
Siaya County was found to have a secondary school dropout rate of 11.6 per cent, compared to 9.5 per cent in Nyanza and 6.6 per cent nationally, in the survey done last year.
Eric Mudembi, the report’s lead researcher, attributes the high dropout rate to socio-economic factors such as poverty, early marriage, and health status of parents as well as of children.

“The study found that pregnancy, early marriage, low academic achievement, poverty and indiscipline caused dropouts among boys and girls in secondary schools in Siaya County,” the report said, noting that more girls than boys dropped out of school at 16 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.

About three quarters of principals and class teachers recommended and employed guidance and counselling to curb the school dropout rate.

The study recommended that schools should strengthen guidance and counselling departments to offer quality services that may lead to responsible behaviour, abolish forced repetition for weak students and solicit funds from donors and well-wishers for assisting learners from poor families.

But a county report from the Children’s Office at the Ministry of Labour and Social Services indicates that there are rising cases of relationships between school girls aged 11 to 16 and boda boda riders, which it attributes to high poverty levels.

In Alego sub-county, over 11 cases of school dropouts have been registered in the past four months, while in Bar Atheng’ Secondary School in Ugunja sub-county, 19 girls are said to have dropped out due to pregnancies and poverty.

“The girl-child in this county is particularly vulnerable, and the motorcycle riders offer free money,” said Bar Atheng’ Deputy Principal Monica Oloo.

Sub-County Children’s Officer Euphrasia Agale said most guardians do not report the cases and instead blame the girls for the ordeal, thus frustrating the justice system.
The officer noted that the community opts to solve the cases at family level.

“The accused persons often get away with the crimes after bribing the girls’ parents or guardians. Sometimes it gets so hard to follow up on the cases because the witnesses and complainants disappear,” said Agale.

She attributed the growing relationships between school girls and motorcyclists to poverty and peer pressure.