Several teenage girls who became pregnant in Eastern Equatoria State during the Coronavirus lockdown say they hope to resume their studies once schools reopen.

“If there was no Coronavirus, I was going to be committed to the school. It was by mistake and I will rectify after I give birth. I will return to school,” said Esther Sebila, a 17-year-old, who was a primary eight student at Christ Bright Academy in Torit. “What I am seeing now in my life is a difficult one. It was a life I didn’t expect and I cannot manage.”

According to the South Sudan Bill of Rights, no one below the age of 18 shall be subjected to negative and harmful cultural practices that affect his/her health, welfare or dignity.

Sebila, who is just one of more than 300 girls who government officials say became pregnant during the lockdown period when schools were closed, says she regrets the decision she has made and says even how to take responsibility for her child would become so difficult when she delivers. 

“If I had listened to the advice of my parents, I would have not become pregnant, but no problem I will still return to school,” Sebila said.

In Eastern Equatoria, government officials documented 125 teenage pregnancies in July, and another 230 in September: a total of 355 pregnancies across eight counties. 

Odumtulla Hillary Okumu, the director for Basic and Secondary Education in Eastern Equatoria state told Radio Tamazuj in an interview some of the data from reports are still missing and the state ministry will update the public when they have gathered more information.

The state director further said the latest reports of pregnancies found: 12 in Greater Kapoeta, 24 in Ikotos, 49 in Torit, 96 in Greater Magwi and 174 in greater Lopa/Lafon.

The official also said the state ministry had advised institutions to ensure girls are protected - even before Coronavirus - due to the risk of infection from HIV, hepatitis and other diseases. Yet girls remain with deaf ears, he said.

Gloria Lodovicko Oryem has dropped out from her senior two class at Fr. Saturnino Memorial Secondary School. She said she was not intending to become pregnant, saying it was a mistake between her and her boyfriend.

“I must change from this mistake because I did not intend and am really praying that no one should do the way I did,” she said.

Lodovicko said her parents hope she can continue with her studies.

“When it happened my parents were not happy why I left school, and they say I should return to school when the school reopens. What has happened was not easy, it was very bad,” Oryem said. “To my colleagues, they should not do this, they should put their interest in academics to become strong, and they should study in peace.”

According to the new report presented by the Support Peace Development Initiative Organization (SPIDO) in Juba Last Month, indicated that more than 1,500 teenage school girls have been impregnated or married-off in South Sudan since the lockdown of COVID-19 pandemic.

The report also showed that most of the alarming rates of early child marriages, pregnancies and prostitution were mainly recorded from Central, Eastern and Western Equatoria States.

Savior Lazarus, the Executive Director of SPIDO further stated that the continued closure of schools and economic hardship might have forced parents to marry off their children at early ages.

Margret Attoo Alfred, another dropped out teenager at Torit West Primary School, said she was forced to become pregnant due to lack of support at home. While shedding tears, Atoo said she was tempted to marry since no one is there to pay her school fees. 

She, however, said her husband had promised to enrol her as soon as the school reopened.

“There was nobody paying me at school. There were a lot of challenges like school fees, in most cases when there are no school fees I go back home to cut woods for sell, I do brew alcohol (Mokoyo and Siko) to pay my fees and I had not known what will happen ahead, now it is like a temptation that came to me and I am feeling bad, my colleagues are now going to leave me behind,” said Attoo Alfred. “I will still go back to school and I will continue.”

According to international human rights law, primary education shall be compulsory and free of charge. Secondary and higher education shall be made progressively free of charge.

In South Sudan, the country’s constitution contains a bill of rights that includes: “All levels of government shall promote education at all levels and shall ensure free and compulsory education at the primary level; they shall also provide free illiteracy eradication programs.”

In April this year, the South Sudanese government imposed a partial lockdown which ordered most learning institutions including schools, and social gathering places including public rallies and worshipping institutions, to remain closed in order to help reduce the spread of the disease.

To date, South Sudan has reported more than 2,600 confirmed cases, and 49 deaths, while 1,438 people have recovered from the COVID-19 disease since the country announced its first case on April 5th, 2020.

Achan Lily Robert, the women representative in Magwi County of Eastern Equatoria warned the impregnated teenage girls against abortion, saying what happened cannot be reversed.

“This is like the oil spilt out we cannot return it back but my advice to these girls is they shouldn’t abort the children they are holding,” said Lily Robert. “They should wait and give birth because there will be another chance that they have ahead so that they are enrolled in school.”

The women leader said she fears that the school girl’s pregnancies may affect the women's representation in the long-run if they continue dropping out of schools.

“This is so painful to us because we were aiming higher but it looks like we are not going to reach our target but we still encourage our people not to give up,” Lily said. 

Oryema Emmanuel, the state coordinator for the South Sudanese Network for Democracy and Elections (SSUNDE) said there is a need for government and non-governmental organizations to intervene on the schoolgirls’ pregnancies.

“We need intervention from the government, the civil society organizations, international NGOs, all these children who are pregnant if they give birth, they need to be enrolled back to school and those who are unable to go to technical school, they can join primary or secondary,” Emmanuel said. “It is still okay because the idea of refusing them is bad.”

The local activist further recommended arresting the girls’ husbands for impregnating school children.

 “We have to make sure we, first of all, get the perpetrators of all these crimes because some of them are irresponsible in the community, they have to be arrested because of impregnating the school-going children, it is bad,” the activist said.

Since July, UNICEF, UNESCO and Save the Children have been calling on the country to review the suspension of learning and reopen schools, saying children were being harmed by staying at home.

According to the government of South Sudan, schools will reopen next month; meanwhile, the Health experts in the country have advised the Ministry of Education to first put in place coronavirus preventative measures before reopening schools.

Lilly Lalam, another senior three student at Torit Day Secondary School said she was mistaken to do something without proper planning and advised her colleagues not to follow her mistake but to continue learning. She hopes to join them after she gives birth.

“If I give birth I will still go back to school and I will not repeat this mistake again,” said Lalam. “If I finish my senior four, then I will see another way.”