The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has called on families, schools, and other stakeholders to support teenage girls who dropped out of school due to pregnancy issues to complete their studies.

UNICEF Education Specialist, AZUKA MENTIKI, made this appeal at a two-day stakeholders meeting in Ibadan, to address the Out-Of-School Children  and model for Retention, Transition, and Completion (RTC)”, in the Southwest zone of Nigeria.

It was attended by Commissioners, Chairmen of the States Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Civil Society, and religious leaders from Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, and Ondo states.

According to MENTIKI, 92 per cent of adolescents in the Southwest states complete their primary schools, while only 85 percent of them complete their studies in secondary school.

She also declared UNICEF’s support to tackle such issues, noting that the initiative was to create awareness and support the states to create plans and policies whereby the girls would be encouraged to pursue their future in spite of these challenges.