Rising number of inmates a cause of concern — Fatimah

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KUCHING: The escalating number of inmates at Taman Seri Puteri this year has raised concerns about the actual magnitude of cases involving illegitimate teenage pregnancies in the state.

Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah yesterday said that the shelter and rehabilitation centre for pregnant or illegitimate mothers below 18 years recorded 20 inmates this year compared to nine in 2010.

The centre has two 14-year-olds, four 15-year-olds, four 16-year-olds, seven 17-year-olds, two 18-year-olds and one inmate whose age is not known because she does not carry an identity card.

“These are things we are able to record. It is only a part of the real number. It’s like the tip of an iceberg, what we see is not much but the actual number could be more,” she told reporters after attending the launching of ‘Training of Trainers’ here.

Fatimah also said that the rate of teenage pregnancies in the state also saw an increase from 7.16 per cent on 2009 to 8.8 per cent in 2010.

She suggested that talks on healthy boy-girl relationships should be held before the school holidays. She said that based on studies, teenage sexual intercourse often occurred during school holidays.

“During school holidays, students have a lot of free time and have more tendencies towards unmonitored socialising which could lead to unwanted pregnancies,” she said.

The minister also urged Parent-Teacher Associations to look into whether there was a need for parents’ support team for those faced with the challenge.

When asked about supplying condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancies here in the future, Fatimah said: “We haven’t thought of going there yet because we want to concentrate on education, prevention, intervention and rehabilitation.

“We hope that after their time at the shelter, they can start a new life. To me, children should be given a second chance to turn over a new leaf.”

Meanwhile, Assistant Minister of Social Development Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the government was working on programmes to develop discipline among children.

“If they have high discipline, they will know the negative outcome of such activities. I am confident that such incidents will be greatly reduced,” he said.

Also present at the event were Assistant Minister of Welfare Robert Lawson Chuat Vincent Entering and State Welfare Department director Noriah Ahmad.