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Teenage Pregnancy Problem Statement Teenagers in Antigua 12-16 are becoming pregnant, which result to delay or incomplete high school education. Literature review Teenage pregnancy in Antigua has reached an alarming rate. With high increase of teen pregnancy comes along the increase of low birth rate, delay or even incomplete high school education, according to the as (1999) “Teens who become pregnant are less likely to graduate, less likely to get a job and less likely to go to college. In Antigua majority of high school students attend government high school because parents cannot afford tuition for private schools. However if females become pregnant in high school they are forced to leave and cannot return to any high school. With the introduction of a long term sexual education course in high school that focuses on educating students on the risk of sexual activity, showing students how to protect themselves not only from pregnancy but also sexually transmitted diseases.
With such and introduction there will be a reduction in teenage pregnancy among high school students in Antigua. According to Barbra Broman (1999) “The most successful teen pregnancy programs are long term. Such programs should present basic and accurate information about the risk of sexual activity, advice youth on how to protect themselves, teach teens how to communicate with their pairs, deal with social pressure, increase teen negotiation and refusal skills, and provide teachers training. Due to lack of information available on high school pregnancy statistics with the permission of the ministry of education, I was granted permission to conduct a survey on high school students’ grades 7 through 9. The surveys ask questions about student knowledge on their bodies, sexually transmitted disease, teen pregnancy, the usage of condoms. After conducting the survey with the help of the ministry of education in Antigua following where the findings. It has been estimated that 2 out of every 5 girls will become pregnant before completing their high school education.
While some of these females may decide to carry out their pregnancy some have gone to the extremes measure to get rid of their pregnancy by using local remedies and taking pills that are not required to be taken for abortions. By doing this most females cause more harm to their health than helping the situation. When students where ask why they would put themselves through such harm, most students couldn’t provide an answer. During the high school sexual knowledge research when students where ask how and when did the learn about sex?
Majority answered saying “watching television,” and they knew about sex by the age of 13. By the end of the research it was clear that most students only knew about HIV because of commercials on television and that students do not know the ways in which their reproduction system work. After conducting this research I am convinced more than ever that there is a great need for sexual education in high school, not only to help reduce teenage pregnancy but to inform students about how their body works, STDs and how to protect themselves during sex.