Residents of Lunte district in Northern Province have complained over the high levels of teenage pregnancies in the area.
Pascal Bwalya of Shi- Bwalya Kapila Chiefdom lamented that the area is also experiencing high numbers of young girls going into early marriages.
Mr. Bwalya said girls as young as those in grade seven are dropping out of school in preference to getting into marriages.
He said this development is worrying both the residents and the traditional leadership in the area.
” There is need to address the situation before it gets worse as most of the girls are failing pregnant as early as grade seven and prefer to go into early marriages” he complained.
Mr. Bwalya has since called on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to get to Lunte and sensitize people on the dangers of early marriages.
“There is need to get Non-Governmental Organizations to come on board and sensitize the communities on the dangers of early marriages as this is happening at the expense of education”, he advised. Recently, the three traditional leaders in the area namely; Mukupa-Kaoma, Chitoshi and Shi-Bwalya Kapila have come out strongly condemning the problem of teen pregnancies and early marriages.
