• Geetha blames lack of parental love, parental migration, among other issues

The State Ministry of Women and Child Affairs stated that a total of 2,087 teen mothers were reported in Sri Lanka last year (in 2022), as per information collected by the Health Ministry’s Family Health Bureau (FHB).

Speaking in response to a question raised by a Parliamentarian, State Minister of Women and Child Affairs Geetha Kumarasinghe yesterday (20) told Parliament that many family-related issues such as the lack of parental affection have put children in a vulnerable position. She further noted that many reasons such as parents’ migration, the lack of sex education, drug addiction among parents, issues existing within families, and the excessive use of technology and smartphones have been identified as major reasons for the increase in the number of child mothers.

Kumarasinghe also told Parliament that officers in Divisional Secretariats and the Police Department have been informed by the State Ministry on several occasions to look into such incidents deeply and to take rapid actions according to the situation. She also said that public institutions take the best steps to address these issues, but that they require a collaborative exercise to prevent such misconduct from taking place.

While responding to a question by Government MP Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi, she said that there were some 89,164 single-parent families in Sri Lanka which include 124,482 children. Kumarasinghe said that the Government had launched several programmes to address the issue, including awareness programmes and offering legal assistance to victims.

Several attempts made to contact FHB Director Dr. Chithramalee de Silva proved futile.