The National Women’s Council has set a new target to intensify the fight against unwanted pregnancies among teenage girls.

This was revealed over the weekend during the council’s general assembly in Kigali.

The assembly noted that teenage pregnancy is still a big problem and that more efforts are needed to address it.

Teenage pregnancy is still a threat to national development and mainly affects school going children. Hundreds of girls drop out of school due to teenage pregnancies, and many times the men responsible deny responsibility.

As a result some of the girls opt for abortion, which puts their lives at risk including losing their lives.

Therefore, preventing teenage pregnancy calls for a holistic approach, but the primary responsibility lies with the parents.

If parenting is taken seriously and every parent plays their role, girls will be fully empowered not to fall into a trap of risky sexual behavior that could end into unwanted pregnancy. A big number of girls drop out of school as a result of teenage pregnancies and in many cases these are children whose parents are not closely involved in their lives at a personal level. Such girls lack skills and values that would ensure they live responsibly.

Also, parents should embrace community family meetings commonly known as Umugoroba wababyeyi. These meetings are a platform to empower parents on how best to empower their children and avoid risky behaviour or influence but unfortunately some parents never attend these meetings.

The 2014/15 Demographic and Health survey showed that teenage pregnancy rates in Rwanda increased from 6.1 per cent in 2010 to 7.3 per cent in 2015.

To reverse this trend parents should put more effort in parenting while authorities should also take punitive measures against men who lure young girls into sex in exchange for gifts.