MORE than 370 schoolgoing girls fell pregnant in the Khomas region during the 2020 academic year.

Of that number, 24 girls were in primary school, while 321 were in secondary school, and 26 were from resource schools.

These figures were revealed by Khomas regional governor Laura McLeod-Katjirua during her state of the region address on Wednesday.

Katjirua expressed concern over the high number of pupils falling pregnant in Khomas every year.

Apart from teenage pregnancies, Katjirua said the region’s education system also faces various challenges that eventually contribute to the poor performance of schools in the region.

Other challenges, Katjirua said, include absenteeism and dropouts due to hunger, and the low capacity of some schools to cope with and mitigate health-related challenges.