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At 12, a girl would normally be in Grade Seven, innocent in the strictest sense of the word and still a father and mother’s baby.

She would be learning how to bath herself appropriately, to make her bed and wash her clothes. Generally, she would be still learning how to take care of herself.

However, some of them are becoming mothers at that tender age — a child bearing another child, children becoming mothers. That is not only shocking but also exceedingly concerning.

Evidence from Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo shows, according to a report we carried yesterday, that children aged between 12 and 16 years now account for about 30 percent of deliveries at the facility, a sharp rise from the previous average of between five and 10 percent.

“There is a massive increase in teenage deliveries at Mpilo and we are sitting on a time bomb as a society,” Mpilo acting chief executive officer Professor Solwayo Ngwenya told us.

“The worrying trend was also a sign of social decay in Zimbabwean communities. Generally, we used to record an average of 5 to 10 percent teenage pregnancies about a year ago but nowadays the rate has gone up to between 20-40 percent of the total deliveries. Previously we have dealt with teenagers aged 17-19 giving birth but it is worrying now because a majority of these pregnancies are emanating from girls aged as young as 12 to 16 years.”

We are sad at this, at the same time puzzled as to why this is so. Is it because children are becoming more undisciplined? If so what is making them more undisciplined? Is society failing to raise its young? If so what is becoming more special for society that we now have no interest in the moral integrity of our young? Are the figures from Mpilo nationally representative?

From a moral perspective, we are concerned that more of our 12-year-olds are indulging in sex, not only indulging but also getting pregnant. We want to tell our girls that they must behave and give themselves more time to grow. In the first place, they are not supposed to have boyfriends at that age. That is the starting point and that position we assert with equanimity. If they don’t have a boyfriend there is little risk that a girl so young can have sexual intercourse and getting pregnant, unless they get sexually molested, which would be unfortunate. In the event that a girl aged 12 goes astray to have someone that they call a boyfriend they must just avoid engaging in sex. We warn them that if they do, such encounters often lead to early pregnancies because girls so young are unlikely to be good at using condoms or other contraceptives, hence the sharp rise in the number of 12-to 16-year- old girls falling pregnant. Therefore, our message to 12-to 16-year-olds is that it is morally unacceptable for them to have a boyfriend or to have sex.

From a health perspective, young girls need to understand that their bodies are still developing, thus are, in most cases, unable to carry a viable pregnancy and deliver safely.

Teenagers have under-developed pelvises which increase the risk of obstructed labour, maternal deaths, paralysis and obstetric fistula. These common complications are usually worse for a girl who is not even a teenager yet.

Early sexual engagement also increases the risk of girls suffering cervical cancer, the leading cancer in Zimbabwe and one of killer diseases among women.

Because most girls aged 12 are often in Grade Seven, if they fall pregnant, they are bound to drop out of school and eventually give up on their studies.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), adds that early sexual debut and sexual abuse of female adolescents increase the girls’ risk to unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections including HIV and psycho-social challenges in their lives.

Therefore by engaging in early sex, by having boyfriends, girls as young as 12 or 16 are not only doing something that is morally bad, but are also endangering their health and that of their unborn children.

We would be very unfair to concentrate on the girl ignoring those who take them as their girlfriends; girlfriends that they want to make wives at such young ages. There are some boys in that age-range who are out there looking for girls. Our word to the boys, as to the girls is that they are still young to engage in love relationships. They are also too young to engage in sex.

At the same time, there are some older men, who are out there looking for girls as young as 12 to be their girlfriends. Such men must leave the girls to grow into adults and allow them to grow mentally to be able to understand what it means to be in love; what it means to have sex and to be a mother. Such men must know that jails and prolonged jail terms are meant for them.

Society must also not get too busy to forget its role in contributing to ensuring that our girls and boys are morally upright and chaste until marriage.