The phenomenon of unwanted early pregnancies in the Sédhiou school environment raises serious concern because of its negative impact on the education of young girls. Faced with this problem, the academic inspection, in collaboration with various partners, launched on 16 January an ambitious initiative entitled “Zéro grossesse précoce non désirée en milieu scolaire”, carried by the organisation Marie Stopes International (MSI) Senegal. This project is supported by MSI Sénégal in partnership with l’académie de Sédhiou, la division du contrôle médical des écoles et le ministère de l’Éducation nationale. Emmanuel Diop, Deputy Country Director of MSI/Sénégal, reaffirmed his organisation’s commitment by declaring: “We contribute in a strategic and financial way to the monitoring and evaluation of the actions implemented to respond to this problem”. Cheikh Yaba Diop, inspecteur d’académie de Sédhiou, stressed the importance of a collective and integrated response: “This project offers us a unique opportunity to combat this phenomenon effectively. Through a multisectoral approach involving the Regional Health Directorate, we are working to eradicate early pregnancies while supporting young pregnant girls to continue their schooling”. The pilot phase of the project targets two colleges and two high schools in the region. However, the Academic Inspectorate intends to extend this initiative to other institutions within the framework of the PADES 2 project, which supports the development of the education sector in Senegal.
Sédhiou: General mobilization against early pregnancies in the school environment
