Mystery shrouds case of ‘pregnant’ students
by Daniel Sabuni and Staff Writer
The controversial case of 10 Arusha Secondary School students who were expelled from school at the end of last year for allegedly being pregnant has taken a dramatic twist.
It is reported that seven of the students have appealed to the Regional Board, refuting the charges.
The Arusha Secondary school Headmaster, Andrew Shayo admitted that his school conducted pregnancy tests to 100 female students, 10 of them being boarders, on the 10th of November last year.
According to the headmaster, initial tests revealed that 10 of the tested girls ‘could’ have been pregnant and these were taken to Kaloleni hospital for further tests.
The Kaloleni doctor’s report indicated that nine of the girls were actually pregnant and it was due to this report that the school board which sat on December 14 decided to throw them out of school.
Five of the expelled students were in Form five, three in Form six and one in Form four.
“This is the first ‘A’ Level class to bring shame on to our school”, said a teacher at the school who preferred anonymity.
However, early this year, seven of the students appealed to the Regional Board armed with their own test results. It is reported that the students had consulted their own doctors who performed their own tests whose results indicated that the girls were “not” pregnant.
The Regional Education Officer (REO), Mrs Hellen Mhando who is the general secretary of the Regional Education Board said the girls issue was already addressed and more information could be obtained from the board chairman.
Regional Commissioner, Daniel Ole Njoolay who is the board Chairman said everything had gone well and that some of the students have resumed classes.
However, Ole Njoolay did not divulge exactly how well was the issue addressed other than adding that the issue was “ medical”.
The doctor who “performed” the pregnant tests at Kaloleni also admitted not to have personally conducted the test but received the laboratory tests of urine samples.
Not keen to have his name in the paper, the doctor revealed that the Arusha Secondary School dispensary attendant brought the samples to Kaloleni hospital.
He said the Kaloleni medical assistants performed the urine tests whose results indicated that the girls except one were pregnant.
The doctor however added that with urine tests you could determine pregnancy but in some cases you may not.
He added that some urine samples that may test positive on pregnancy can produce negative results when tested with advanced laboratory tests like those at Mount Meru hospital.
The doctor explained that it was a normal routine for Arusha secondary school to test female students on pregnancy especially when they return from holidays.
As for the recent case, one of the girls had a bulging stomach which she claimed to be a tumor but later discovered to be six months old pregnant.
However, the girl who was immediately given the necessary clinic assistance and she has long since retired home.
Some of the students parents said they don’t object to the action taken but felt the procedure of going about it should have been better, and tests done properly.
Their sentiments are however, not shared by some teachers at the school who feel that anything could have happened to those pregnancies in the duration of the three weeks between the first test and the second.
The Kaloleni doctor also adds, “For reliable results, the girls should have been taken to a Gynaecologist or given ultra sound tests!”
The Arusha Times has withheld the names of the seven students who appealed to the regional education board.
As we were going to the press, the Arusha secondary school board was once more sitting to discuss this issue.
Arusha secondary school is one of the two Government owned secondary schools in Arusha municipality, the other being Arusha Day Secondary.
