The St. Rita Evergreen Schools is a new school started on 13th January 2025 to address a dire need to put teen including pregnant teenagers,those bringing up young babies 0 to 3 years,girls under threat of early marriages,rape.incest,gender based violence(GVB) ,total orphans and other vulnerable girls to school.There is a home inside the school where the girls stay with their babies and attend the classes. The teen mums school together with other girls who do not have babies. The girls attend senior high school from form two to form four

According to a survey done by Forum for African Women Educationalists Kenya (FAWE) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation titled Situational analysis Report on Teen pregnancies in Kenya done in late 2022 and early 2023, 1,030 participants were interviewed. A significant number of the study participants, 42%, were those aged 18-25 years, those between 15 -18 years formed 36%, and those aged below 14 years were 22%. The findings established 19.9% teenage pregnancy rates in twenty counties during the 2020-21 period, at the peak of COVID-19. The twenty counties had significantly higher teenage pregnancy rates than the national average of 15%, as reported by the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (2022). The situational analysis further established that teenage pregnancy was prevalent among girls aged 15-18 years at 27.4%, followed by 19-25 years (23.7%).

The report further established that 18.6% of those aged between 15-18 were in child marriages, signifying a reduction from 23% (KDHS:2014). On the contrary, only 3% of boys in Kenya were married before the age of 18 years. The study established that out-of-school girls, refugee girls, Asylum seekers, absentees, girls from specific geographical areas (poor rural, poor urban, and ASAL), and girls with disabilities were at risk of teenage pregnancy compared to other girls of the same age group despite the relevant laws and policies, including strategies such as age-appropriate family health Education, Youth Friendly Service, and Youth clubs/Tuseme implemented in schools, communities, and government health centers. Factors leading to teenage pregnancy and child marriage remained drug and substance abuse, poverty, gender-based violence, child marriage, culture and traditions, lack of Sexual reproduction Health(SRH) information and services, lack of parental supervision, social media influence, and early sexual debut. Overall, different practices are in place, ranging from Comprehensive Sexuality Education to the Provision of Adolescent Youth-Friendly Services, Engagement of boys in pregnancy prevention, Law and policy enforcement, promotion of school club activities, and provision of Menstrual Hygiene products, which has been put in place by communities, parents, CBOs, and the government to reduce girls’ exposure to teenage pregnancies and child marriages.

Cases of teenage pregnancies and child marriages remain high in Kenya, and specific counties, continue to battle the ever-rising cases of teenage pregnancies. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with other crises like the prolonged drought in 2022, floods in late 2023 and 2024 further spiked teenage pregnancies despite relevant laws, policies, and strategies in schools and communities. The five factors associated with teenage pregnancies are Early Sexual debut, social media influence, lack of parental supervision, Inadequate access to family life information, Inadequate access to education and Culture and tradition are closely interlinked, and a comprehensive approach to reducing and eliminating is likely to be the most effective. Teenage pregnancy is a major challenge that deprives schoolgirls of the opportunity to further their education and attain their career goals. It further exposes young girls and their children to major health risks, leading causes of death, mental health problems such as depression, poor performance in school, and social problems such as stigma and discrimination.

From the study, absenteeism from school was associated with factors like lack of school fees, lack of menstrual products, and teenage pregnancies. According to that study low school attendance was attributed to among others teenage pregnancies at thirty nine percent (39.2%) The St Rita Ever green schools were started to address the big drop out of girls as a result of teenage pregnancy as demonstrated by the above numbers.

According to the Basic Education Statistical Booklet (2020), some of the ASAL counties and informal settlements are likely to have a lower gender parity index, implying gender disparity in favor of boys. However, some counties such as Isiolo, although being an ASAL county, have had gender disparity in favor of girls, and this may continue. In terms of County analysis, counties with the lowest GPI at the primary education level were Mandera (0.60), Garissa (0.73), Wajir (0.77), Turkana (0.89), and Samburu (0.90). Some of these counties are also the least populous counties. According to the Kenya Population Census (KNBS, 2019), the least populous counties have many factors that put girls at risk. The census further identified the most populous counties: Nairobi, Kakamega, Bungoma, Nakuru, and Kiambu. (KNBS: 2019). These counties have informal settlements, which put girls at risk. Moreover, more girls in the rural poor are at risk of teenage pregnancy than girls from the urban centers. Another study shows that girls living in rural areas are more likely to be married in childhood than girls in urban areas. In 2022, for instance, 16% of teenagers (ages 15-19 years) had been pregnant in rural areas, while the prevalence was lower, with 12.3% of teenagers in urban areas.12. According to UNFPA, poverty, whether in rural or urban areas, puts girls at risk of teenage pregnancy. The UNFPA report indicated that adolescent pregnancies are more likely to occur among poor communities (21%) of women aged 15-19 in the lowest wealth quantile reported to have been pregnant, as compared (8%) in the highest wealth quantile

Further some of the girls got pregnant after traumatising, life threatening rape episodes. 1Some of the rape episodes could be by persons of authority who could harm the victim if the matter is reported or prosecuted in a court of law and therefore the girls could be in danger. Further some of the pregnancy could be as a result of incest which could be embarrassing or in some situations be life threatening to the girl. The cases and the dangers to both the teenage mother or the born or unborn baby are endless

The overall objective of this fundraising proposal is to seek finances for The St Rita Evergreen schools put back to school the large number of vulnerable/poor girls who drop out of school as a result of teenage pregnancies and in some cases to offer some of them shelter from any looming danger to the teenager or the born or unborn child. Our school of focus is The St.Rita Evergreen schools. This school is situated centrally in on the Nyeri Nyahururu road Kenya (near the equator) to be able to serve girls from Laikipia county, Samburu county, Baringo county Marsabit county, Isiolo county, Meru county and Turkana county that have high prevalence of poor teenage mothers while still serving girls from lower density teenage mothers including Nyandarua, Nyeri and Nakuru counties

After identifying that very many teenage girls are dropping out of school some completely to never go back, some to be rejected and stigmatized when they join back and others to be hurriedly married off some to men old enough to be their grandparents, we saw the need to mitigate this social and economic problem. At The St Rita evergreen schools we decided to provide a secure, save haven for those girls. A place where they do not feel judged, do not get stigmatized, a place they can interact with girls who have undergone similar issues, a place they call home and a place where they get a second chance. The aim of the school is to offer support to the vulnerable girls and their babies. To effectively achieve this the school programme is tailored in the following formula / model.