TEENAGE PREGNANCY ITS EFFECT ON EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS

Chapter I

Over the past few decades, teenage pregnancy has become a public concern which has generated a great
deal of attention in the locality. Increasing awareness of the social and economic consequences of teenage
pregnancy has led to a consensus opinion among policy makers and the public that teenage pregnancy and child
bearing is a significant social problem.

It has been linked to an array of other social issues, such as welfare dependency, child health and well-
being, out of wedlock births, fatherhood responsibility, child abuse and neglect, school drop-out and workforce
development. (Torivillas, The Philippine Star, 2013).

There was a strong agreement that teenage pregnancy rate is still on the increase and and every increased
there has an additional consequences of abortions and fetus losses and yet reducing the number of births by this
age group remains an important goal, Scott (1981)

The frequency of teenage pregnancy among the youth is alarming and has become more or less a fact of
life in many nations of the world including Philippines. This remains both culturally deleterious and personally
destructive. Teenage pregnancy has lots of effects on Educational Development of teenagers who are victims of
this phenomenon.

The Philippine government and other religious institutions are studying every angle to look for ways to
reduce untimely pregnancy among teenager. These are many factors which have been recognized by researchers
and authors as being responsible for teenage pregnancy. It has been noted and well documented that todays
teenagers face more sexual temptation than previous generations. They seem to be more aware of sex and
susceptible to the dangers of illicit sex.

Todays society is more bombarded with sexually oriented materials in the environment. The teenager
are more vulnerable to sexual temptations. Health and Home, Philippines, Pregnant at 16, p.12-13 &22).

According to Eruesgbefe, (2005). Todays teenagers have become more sexually active and
promiscuous compared to their age mates of some thirty, forty or fifty years ago in the Nigerian situation. He
also asserted that, The gradual departures from the traditions, customs and religious doctrine of the different
ethnic groups on the premise of civilization have been largely responsible for this.

Community and families must work hand in hand to shield their teenagers against these phenomena.
Increases in both health and social problems are products of uncontrollable multiple sex partners among
teenagers. Mainly because the youth cannot control their emotional feelings, they rush into untimely sex, in the
belief that the act will be undetected.

According to Albano (2001). In the Philippines, usually in a family, this category are not taught family
life education by their parents and schools because of the sensitivity of the issue, this is contrary to the wide
assumption that family life education is on. In practice, however, not much of sex education is taught in every
Filipino family. Existing government family planning programs have been directed principally to married
couples.
This study is aimed to look into the effects of teenage pregnancy to the educational development of students and
out-of-school youth in Maramag, Bukidnon. Particularly it aims to answer the following problems.

What is the demographic profile in terms of age, age when pregnant, educational attainment, status, type of
school attended and economic background of the respondents.
The study is delimited to students who have been pregnant at their teens (12-19) years old and living in
Kasiglahan Village .The subjects were drawn to the students who have been pregnant and or have been a
student on their teenager days and living in Maramag, Bukidnon. The study focused on the extent of major
causes of teenage pregnancy which are family, peers, community, and church involvement, with the
educational development of students and out-of-school youth in Maramag, Bukidnon.