Chapter 1

Introduction
Spencer defines teenage pregnancy as a pregnancy in a young girl aged 13 to 19, whereas
Macleod defines it as a social problem in which adult practices and functions (sexual intercourse,
reproduction, and mothering) are displayed by a person who is not-yet-adult, that is, adult, but
not adult, child, but not child, due to her age and developmental status. Pregnancies are the
outcome of either voluntary or involuntary sexual activity. One of the most distressing and
terrible consequences of teenage pregnancy is the girl's inability to finish her education.

About 6% of Filipino girls are pregnant as teenagers. That may seem like a minor figure, but
according to Save the Children's Global Childhood Report from 2019, it is the second highest
rate in Southeast Asia. According to the Philippine Statistical Authority, 538 infants are born to
Filipino young moms EVERY SINGLE DAY in 2017.

Now do the calculations: in the Philippines, 538 x 365 = 196,370 babies are born each year to
teenage mothers! Every year, about 200,000 teens become pregnant! To make matters worse,
there are nearly 40 births each year by females under the age of thirteen. That's right, adorable
young ladies who haven't even reached puberty are carrying a kid in their child-like womb for
nine months.

More specifically, the fact that most parents pay less attention to their children, combined with
the fact that today's teenagers are growing up in a culture where peers, television and motion
pictures, music, and magazines frequently transmit either covert or overt messages on unmarried
sexual relationships (specifically those involving teenagers) are commonly accepted and at times
expected behavior, has greatly contributed to the moral decadence rampant among our youth.
Despite the fact that education is promoted as a pillar of responsible sexual behavior, specific
information about the consequences of sexual intercourse (including teenage pregnancy, sexually
transmitted diseases, and psychological effects) is frequently not provided at home or in
community settings. Many students appear to struggle in this area, as many become pregnant
each year. As a result, a large portion of the sex education that kids acquire is filtered through
ignorant and/or unified peers.

Statement of the Problem

Teenage pregnancy has been shown to persist in our local communities due to a variety of
contributing circumstances, with severe consequences for the youths involved. According to
Panday et al. teenage moms are unlikely to complete high school (i.e. secondary school
education). The lack of completion of a secondary school education limits the economic potential
of the teenage population, potentially perpetuating the poverty cycle.

As a result, the study is concerned with identifying and assessing the causes and impact of
teenage pregnancy on the academic performance of teenagers at a particular school, as well as
exploring various strategies through which it can be avoided or addressed in local government
areas, in order to enable teenage mothers and fathers, as well as sexually active teenagers who

1
would have dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancy, to achieve their educational goals.
The researchers set out to answer the following probing inquiry in order to better understand the
influence of teenage pregnancy disparities in the learners' backgrounds on their academic
performance.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

The researcher chooses the Senior High School students at Mat-I National High School. It
consists of 6 respondents which is 2 becoming teenage mom and 4 teenage mothers. The study
was conducted at Mat-I National High School on May 25, 2022 in the afternoon.

Significance of the Study

The study's relevance is to shed light on our current pregnancy policy and how to enhance it, as
well as to ensure that regulations are enforced at the ground level for pregnant school girls to be
reintegrated into the mainstream educational system. In most circumstances, schoolgirls who fall
pregnant in rural and urban regions must either resort to risky abortions or risk being expelled
from school. The learner has the option of returning to school as soon as she has the required
papers or taking a longer absence of up to one calendar year from the date she left school due to
the pregnancy. Her place at school will not be reserved if she takes a lengthier leave of absence.
The learner and her family must have clear communication with the school about the date on
which she expects to return in order to guarantee that her seat at school is reserved throughout
her break.

The Ministry of Education and school administration are the most likely to profit from the
findings of this study, particularly in the creation and strengthening of policies that protect
teenage pregnancies in schools and the probable re-admission of impacted girls back to school.
While laws are currently being liberalized in many settings to allow for re-entry, the number of
students returning to school is still quite low. Because a pregnant schoolgirl must choose
between dropping out and having an abortion in order to stay in school, there is a substantial cost
involved with getting pregnant while still in school. Boys who get girls pregnant, on the other
hand, are not punished.

2
 Chapter 2
Review of Related Literature

Challenges of Teenage Motherhood

Gyan asserted that teenage pregnancy has a lot of social consequences which include school
drop-out or interrupted schooling, falling prey to criminal activity, abortion, ostracism, and child
neglect, school adjustment difficulties for their children, adoption, and lack of social security,
poverty, repeated pregnancy and negative effects on domestic life. Teenage mothers, particularly
at my research site continue to be constrained by pregnancy in that they fail to participate in
educational activities.

More so, they fail to complete their schooling because they are over their academic work because
they are mothers first and learners later. Supporting this Chilisa asserted that a pregnant school
girl is being challenged with options like taking days off school just to be with her baby, reentry
and continuation. All of these options that they face have both principled and practical
difficulties. Managing as well as caring for an infant and devoting much time to school work is a
great challenge for these teen parents. Studies have shown that the birth of a child marks the end
of schooling for these teen parents Grant and Hallman. There are however, factors that can
influence whether or not a school girl should proceed with her schooling after giving birth. These
are: the ability for her to continue managing logistics and finances associated with mothering and
schooling at the same time Kaufmann. While pregnancy has become the girls’ major factor for
school dropouts, issues of social, economic and cultural aspects has of recent become complex
factors in this regard.

Effects of Teenage Pregnancy on Education

In a research by Gyan he asked the participants to indicate whether they were still in school
during the period of the study and their responses were that about five learners were not in
school during data collection and this information has to be given out by those that were in
school at the time while two of them indicated that they were in school. This implies that teenage

3
pregnancy can be a cause as well as an effect of school dropout. That is being in school often
prevent teenagers from getting pregnant so those who have dropped out of school are likely to
fall prey to teenage pregnancy.

Hosie also found out that bullying by teachers or other students were instrumental in their dislike
of school. Those students whose attendance are poor and who dislike school prior to pregnancy
have a negative attitude from their schools on disclosure of their condition and are less likely to
remain in school than those who had good attendance beforehand. Studies on Teenage pregnancy
suggested that statistically, young mothers face a life of poverty, have lower levels of education
and have less opportunity in the workplace than non-parenting teens. She found that research on
teen pregnancy prevention usually focuses on the negative aspects of being a teen parent. It is
also alleged that the relationship between teenage pregnancy and education goes in both
directions. Teenagers who become pregnant are more likely to drop out of school and teenagers
who drop out of school are more likely to become pregnant Kaufmann.

The Conceptual Framework on the Impact of Teenage Pregnancy on Learners’ Academic

4
5
 Chapter 3

Methodology

Research Design

The researchers employed a qualitative research approach in this study to determine the
influence of teenage pregnancy on Grade 7 students' academic performance. According to
Patton, qualitative research employs a naturalistic approach to understanding phenomena in
context-specific contexts, such as "real-world settings where the researcher does not attempt to
influence the phenomenon of interest." The researchers chose qualitative methodology because
they wanted to learn more about teenage pregnancy and its consequences on students' academic
performance. McMillan & Schumacher define qualitative research as "an investigation in which
researchers collect data in face-to-face situations by interacting with selected people in their
settings, describing and analyzing people's individual and collective social actions, beliefs,
thoughts, and perceptions."

Participants of the Study

The population consisted of teenage mothers. Purposive sampling was also used. The sample for
the study will be six participants in total, made up of 4 teenage mothers already in school and
also the 2 expecting teenage mothers at the school.

Instrumentation

6
Interviews

This study used in-depth interviews. This instrument gave the researchers the platform to ask
open ended questions about teenage pregnancy so that the participants will be able to explain
issues concerning this problem being researched (De Vos et al.)2 expecting teenage mothers and
4 teenage mothers were interviewed.

Research Procedure

The unstructured one-to-one in-depth interviews was conducted through visiting the respective
school and making personal contact with the selected participants, preferably in a quiet place in
order to avoid disturbances. In order to ensure completeness and reliability of information,
interview sessions will be recorded on a provided paper.

Chapter 4

Results and Discussion

Factors that Lead to Teenage Pregnancy

7
The Views of Teenage Pregnant Learners

According to the students interviewed, one of the variables that led to teenage pregnancy was
their lack of awareness about sexuality and reproductive education. They cited a lack of parental
care, control, and supervision as one of the causes for certain single parent families' inability to
properly support their families, which led to some of them becoming pregnant. They claimed that
most parents ignored their own children by failing to provide support to meet their needs, putting
their children at risk of seeking comfort, acceptance, and consolation through sexual activities.
According to these students, alcohol and drug misuse was also an issue. They claimed that after
being influenced by drink or drugs, they make rash decisions and become pregnant as a result.

The Impact of Teenage Pregnancy on the Education of the Girl-Child

Furthermore, teenage mothers begin to have a bad attitude about their schoolwork, focusing on
their children's responsibilities and forgetting about their own future. As a result, if a teen
becomes pregnant and does not want the baby, she may experience emotional trauma. This
tragedy may lead to unexpected behaviors such as abortion attempts or suicide attempts. By the
time they go on maternity leave, expecting teenage mothers will have fallen behind in their
studies. To compound the effects of teenage pregnancy, expectant moms often drop out of school
due to fear of disgrace from their peers.
According to the findings of this study, the influence of teenage pregnancy on the education of
girl children, expecting mothers, and mothering teenagers at school level often perform poorly
when compared to their previous performance. This was due to a lack of maternal experience,
conflicting duties, poor health, and family support. Swann et al. argued that teen pregnancy and
early motherhood are linked to poor academic attainment, poor physical and mental health,
social isolation, poverty, and other issues. In a similar vein, Duncan claims that teenage parents
have lower educational attainment than teenagers who do not have children.
The reasons behind poor academic performance of pregnant and mothering teenagers as revealed
by the findings of this study are among others, dual responsibilities the affected learners are
faced with.

How to Limit the Impact of Teenage Pregnancy among Learners

In order to address teen pregnancy among students, TA suggested that a life skill instructor
undertake sex conversations (sex education) with students. Both pregnant and teenage mothers
should seek advice from a life skill or school counselor about their current position. The school

8
must preach abstinence to students, particularly those who have not yet begun sexual
relationships. This idea revolved around sending religious leaders to schools to speak to students
about religious beliefs such as the sinfulness of sex before marriage. The study found that a
variety of techniques can be used to reduce and prevent teenage pregnancy at a certain school.
This included providing sex education, approaching learners differently based on their ages, and
collaborating with other community stakeholders such as social workers, nurses, educational
psychologists, and religious leaders. This study proposed a number of ways to reduce teenage
pregnancy, including making condoms freely available in secondary schools, contraceptive use,
and abstinence.

9
 Chapter 5

Conclusion and Recommendations

10
Conclusion

Teenage pregnancy and school attendance are incompatible because the latter has a negative
impact on their education and future aspirations in school. This is owing to the fact that
adolescent women attend school irregularly and occasionally drop out due to their new parental
responsibilities. While this study found that adolescent pregnancy and motherhood contributed to
poor academic performance at the case school and eventually led to dropout, it also urges
policymakers of Education to take swift action to address this regrettable issue.

Recommendation

Pregnant students should be encouraged to study hard in order to improve their academic
performance in the classroom, according to the findings of this study. Educators should teach
them study habits and offer an individual support program (ISP) if the pregnant student is
experiencing difficulties due to pregnancy-related illnesses and is unable to accomplish specific
activities. Educators should pursue Special Needs education certifications to learn how to
support and include physically, mentally, and emotionally challenged students, including
pregnant students, in their regular classroom settings in order to help these students perform
academically as well as other students who have not become pregnant.

11