Tandahimba — Five school girls, who were impregnated, together with their parents have been arrested in Tandahimba in a crack down which followed an order by District Commissioner Sebastian Waryuba.
The pupils and their parents were, however released on bail. This was revealed by District Administrative Secretary, Mr Mohamed Azizi, on behalf of Mr Waryuba.
According to Mr Azizi, authorities are still looking for the men who impregnated the girls, who vanished shortly after the DC issued the directive.
"We have managed to arrest the girls and their parents but unfortunately those who impregnated the girls have escaped and we are looking for them," said Mr Azizi.
Child pregnancies in Tandahimba have been on the rise of recently. In 2015 some 20 cases were reported while in 2017, some 27 cases were recorded.
Speaking during a district consultative committee meeting earlier last week, Mr Waryuba said the school children, together with their parents should be detained pending investigations.
His directive is part of efforts to end pregnancies among students in the district.
He said it was intolerable that 55 school girls should be expelled from school because of pregnancy.
Gender and Human Rights activists decried the directive. They argued that the authorities should arrest the culprits rather than the victims.