'Pregnant schoolgirls arrested in Tanzania'

Child rights activists in Tanzania have criticised the arrest of five pregnant schoolgirls and their parents over the weekend, according to The Citizen.

The teenagers were arrested in Tandahimba, southern Tanzania, on the orders of a local district commissioner and later released on bail, the news site adds.

Gender and child rights campaigners are quoted by The Citizen news site as saying the authorities should have arrested the men who caused the pregnancy rather than the victims. 

Local authorities are looking for the men who impregnated the girls, according to Mohamed Azizi, a district official quoted by the news site. 

Mr Azizi is also reported as saying that the arrest is part of wider efforts to end student pregnancies in the area, where 55 schoolgirls have reportedly become pregnant over the past two years.

 

Teenage pregnancy has become a focus for politicians of late.

Last year, Tanzania's President John Magufuli was condemned for comments that girls who give birth should not be allowed to return to school.