Education CS Julius Ogamba responds to questions in the Senate on October 7, 2026. /PARLIAMENTPoverty, inadequate sexual and reproductive health information, early sexual debut and weak parental guidance are among the factors driving teenage pregnancies among schoolgirls, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has said.
Ogamba told the Senate that research by government agencies, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and partner organisations shows that early pregnancy accounts for 66 per cent of teenage school dropouts, with 93 per cent of affected girls reporting that the pregnancies were unintended.
Other factors identified include negative peer influence and pressure, inadequate provision of basic needs by parents, alcohol and drug abuse, illicit brews, inadequate community awareness and incest.
The CS also cited the practice of disco matanga and the circumstances of learners who attend schools far from home and rent houses in nearby markets, saying this can expose them to opportunities to engage in sexual activities.
Ogamba was responding to questions by Senator Catherine Mumma on how the Ministry of Education monitors teenage pregnancies among learners, the tools used to collect data and the number of cases recorded between 2023 and 2025.
Mumma had also sought county and subcounty-level data on teenage pregnancies involving schoolgirls, information on whether teachers were among the perpetrators and the number of defilement cases within the school system that had been prosecuted.
She further asked the ministry to provide the number of teenage mothers who had been re-enrolled in school and explain measures being taken to support those who remained out of school.
Ogamba said the ministry currently does not have comprehensive and disaggregated data showing the exact number of schoolgirls who have become pregnant, dropped out or successfully returned to school.
"The ministry lacks comprehensive and disaggregated data to provide the exact number of child mothers who have been successfully re-enrolled per county or the total number who remain out of school," Ogamba said.
He said available figures provide a national picture of teenage pregnancies rather than data specifically covering learners in schools.
Data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey and the Kenya Health Information System put the number of teenage pregnancies in the first months of 2023 at 110,821 among adolescents aged 10 to 19.
Of these, 6,110 involved girls aged 10 to 14, while 104,711 cases involved adolescents aged 15 to 19.
"These are general population health statistics, not specifically for the Ministry of Education," Ogamba said.
He said the ministry also lacked a comprehensive information management framework for disaggregating reported pregnancies among learners and identifying perpetrators.
Compilation of data on perpetrators, he added, requires information from several institutions because the ministry relies on reports submitted by school heads and teachers, which are not sufficient on their own.
The Teachers Service Commission handles disciplinary cases involving teachers, while other cases require information from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, National Police Service and the Judiciary.
"We are working on a system that brings together all these agencies for purposes of sharing data. At present, therefore, available data is mainly drawn from the national service and taken through the health sector," he said.
Ogamba said the ministry was also addressing the data gap through the Kenya Education Management Information System, which he said had been designed to capture information on teenage pregnancies among learners going forward.
He said monitoring of teenage pregnancies currently takes place through a multisectoral approach involving other government agencies.
Despite the efforts to address teenage pregnancies and improve data collection, Ogamba said many teenage mothers face significant barriers when attempting to return to school.
Financial constraints, stigma and discrimination, childcare responsibilities, gaps in implementation of the re-entry policy and lack of awareness were among the challenges he identified.
"Many teenage mothers, their parents and communities are unaware of the right of teen mothers to return to school," Ogamba said.
The lack of awareness, coupled with financial and childcare pressures, continues to make it difficult for some teenage mothers to resume their education even where policies provide for their return to school.
