August 13, 2018

Let pregnant school girls and teenage mothers learn

located:	Tanzania, Burundi, Togo
editor:	Bob Koigi

With the continent recording the highest adolescent pregnancy rates globally according to the United Nations, each year, tens of thousands of teenage pregnant girls in Africa drop out of school. It is a tough call for the girls who are also ostracised by society and regarded as moral failures.

In Tanzania for example, the president last year issued a stern warning insisting that he would never allow pregnant school girls to resume classes because ‘they would set a bad example to their fellow students.’ The president blamed the girls for the high levels of moral decadence in the society. His words would be followed by a sustained crackdown that to date has seen numerous teen mothers arrested with their parents.

Burundi recently reversed the gains it has made in protecting gender discrimination and protecting girls’ rights to education when it banned pregnant girls from resuming their education in government and private schools. The two countries now join others like Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone and Togo that have introduced punitive laws and policies condemning teenage mothers.

Yet like all the other African countries under the ambit of the African Union, these countries, through the ambitious Agenda 2063, have made commitments to build the continent’s human capital by, among other methods, investing in education and working to eliminate gender disparities at all levels of education.

They have also adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, with a promise to leave no one behind and to promote inclusive and quality education for all.

It is encouraging to note that countries like Malawi, Gabon and Kenya have adopted the continuation and reentry policies that allow pregnant girls to resume education after giving birth. And although there are hiccups in implementation of such policies, it is a gesture that countries across the continent should emulate.  

The simple fact is that governments the world over have a fiduciary duty to provide quality education to all children without discrimination. With the conservative society already stigmatising and rejecting pregnant girls, school is their only solace and second chance at life. Governments shouldn’t deny them that.

Photo: Develop Africa

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