A 13-year-old pupil gave birth to a baby boy during a Mathematics examination in the ongoing Primary Leaving Examinations in Mpigi District, Uganda.
The incident happened at St Balikuddembe Primary School, Jalamba Ward in Buwama Town Council, Mpigi District on Wednesday morning, March 31.
According to Mr Godfrey Ssema, the headteacher of the school, the girl developed labour pains during a Mathematics examination.
“After 20 minutes, she alerted the invigilator who called colleagues and rushed the girl to a nearby medical centre,” Mr Ssemanda said.
Ms Goreth Mirembe, the nurse at the clinic said that after helping the girl to deliver, she was taken back to the school to complete her paper in an isolated environment.
Mr Ssemanda said that the invigilator gave the girl extra 45 minutes to write the examination.
Speaking to Daily Monitor, the girl’s parents attributed their daughter’s pregnancy to last year’s Covid-19 lockdown.
She was lured into conjugal acts during this Covid-19 lockdown by a certain boy because they were not going to school,” one of the parents said.
Thousands of girls were reported to have become pregnant during the lockdown orchestrated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown which started in March 2020, led to the closure of all educational institutions, leaving more than 15 million learners in communities for close to a year.
