By Katy Migiro
NAIROBI (TrustLaw) - A rising number of Kenyan schoolgirls are dropping out of school because of rape followed by pregnancy, the Standard newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Albert Kalama, who works for an unnamed community-based organisation in Kaloleni district on Kenya’s coast, said his office receives at least four cases of girls being raped each month, the Kenyan paper said.
The perpetrators are often their teachers or other men in their communities.
“We have two cases of teachers who are facing charges of defiling their students. One is already in court while the second will be arraigned in court soon,” Kalama told the paper.
“Our main challenge is that the affected family members are often silenced with monetary handouts from suspects.”
Kalama called on the government to suspend teachers who are charged with raping their students.
“The teacher, whose case is in court, is still going on his business as usual,” Kalama said in the report.
A local government officer said the teacher could not be suspended until there was tangible evidence of his crime.
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