It was by accident that the news about teenage pregnancy came out. Many years ago when a man was found to be having a relationship with a girl of thirteen, there was a massive hue and cry. Perhaps it was the man that made this an issue because such a relationship was not illegal at the time.
Because of the age at which traditional East Indian parents married off their daughters, the age of consent was thirteen. Guyana later amended the age of consent to sixteen.
This meant that anyone who engaged in sexual activity with a child under the age of sixteen was committing statutory rape. Women’s rights and other advocacy groups were glad. The nation was fed up of men abusing little girls.
However, this has not changed the fact that grown men are still having sex with very young girls for whatever reason. There were few prosecutions but it would seem that there was not too much emphasis in this area.
Not many prosecutions were heard of because one would suppose that the male perpetrators paid compensation to parents who were glad for any money he or she could get. The law did not stop men from having sex with these very young girls. There are still the pregnancies.
Member of Parliament Amanza Walton Desir, by way of a question to the National Assembly, learnt that between 2020 and 2025 some 600 girls below the age of sixteen became pregnant. One was killed by the father of the teenager’s child.
As simple as it seems, that figure translates into ten girls under the age of sixteen becoming pregnant each month. While each of these should have been schoolgirls most were not going to school.
One of these young mothers died after giving birth and after being released from the New Amsterdam Hospital. Questions were asked. Where was the father of the child? What was the welfare of the now dead mother? Where was the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security?
Where are the schools’ welfare officers? Were teachers reporting the girls’ initial absences? Were there attempts to contact the parents about their children’s absences?
The government has allocated huge sums to the Education Ministry. It has also voted large sums of money to the Child Protection Services. What is the staffing at these entities like? It is already a given that Guyana keeps losing its University graduates so the likelihood of an abundance of social workers is not a reality.
Further, the money paid to public servants is not an incentive to qualified social workers so this particular situation will remain bogged down in mediocrity.
Most adults will place blame at the foot of the parents. And indeed the most commonly asked question is “Where is the mother?” No one asks for the father because in many poor families, fathers are absent.
There is the story of a young boy in school who found it funny that one child had brothers and sisters from one set of parents. This boy thought that it was the norm for children in households to have different fathers.
The data may be available but it has not been made public. Which part of the country has the highest concentration of these Under-16 mothers? It would not be surprising to find that the highest concentration of these young mothers would be found in the poorest communities.
Raging teenage hormones may lead to early sexual activity. In a few cases lingering cultural practices may encourage and support the extent of these child pregnancies. But Guyana is not an island. Other countries have dealt with this situation.
There was the case of a student of a Lodge Georgetown school whose mother, the school notified, that a grown man who was known to be a highflying gangster was taking her daughter to and from school.
In fact, the school sent for the mother who turned up to explain that the girl was big enough to earn her upkeep. Besides, she had smaller siblings who needed the mother’s attention.
But the reality is that each month an average of ten girls under the age of sixteen become mothers. With all the money at its disposal, the government is refusing to support these young mothers. By failing to prosecute the fathers the government is condoning the situation.
Generally, the state takes the easy way out. The police or social worker would visit the young mother in hospital and try to glean information about the father. The young mother may be reluctant to disclose the man’s identity so the police or social worker would conclude that they have done their job.
There is no move to conduct any investigation in the community. In Guyana, especially rural Guyana, there are no secrets. However, investigating is a boring process unless it means following money.
Meanwhile, this underage pregnancy is just the beginning of a vicious cycle. By the time the mother reaches adulthood, she wants to begin living. The child is often left to its own devices.
There is the case in Georgetown where a schoolboy became a member of a gang. He made some comment and his peers from various schools turned up at his school to deal with him. Two grown men rescued him and took him away.
One day later a video surfaced of this boy being pursued at the carpark or the bus park by the gang. The mother, when contacted, said that she has started life with someone else. Further, she had just given birth.
The boy cannot live with his stepfather in the house so he is living with his father and an older brother. The older brother has the responsibility of looking after his smaller brother while the father works in Berbice. The boy is left to his own devices.
The reality is that what starts as a case of teen pregnancy will spawn into a wider national issue.
