A new report issued by Human Rights Watch has stated that minority of African Union governments have continued to explicitly exclude pregnant girls from school. Senior government representatives in countries such as Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania have publicly declared that pregnant students are to be expelled from public school.
In March 2015, at a press conference organized by the former Minister of Education, Minkailu Bah, he said that girls whose pregnancies are visible will not be allowed in schools and not allowed to also take the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
He said this policy was a result of a letter he received from the West African Certificate Examination (WAEC) raising concern over the behaviors of pregnant girls in examination centres and their performances after the examination.
In response to Minister Bah’s statements, a collective of civil society groups, Amnesty International, Save the Children, PLAN International, UNICEF and the UN family, condemned the policy in Sierra Leone.
Tens of thousands of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers are banned or discouraged from attending school across Africa, Human Rights Watch said in their report released ahead of the Day of the African Child on June 16, 2018.
In recent years, many African governments have made strong commitments to ensure that pregnant girls and mothers can attend school. However, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania still ban pregnant girls or adolescent mothers from government schools.
In May 2018, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice accepted a case brought against the government of Sierra Leone for its refusal to allow pregnant girls to attend public schools.
“In many African countries, pregnant girls and adolescent mothers are forced out of school and denied their right to education,” said Elin Martínez, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “While some progress has been made, the African Union needs to work closely with all its member countries to ensure that no girl is denied her right to an education because she becomes pregnant.”
President Julius Maada Bio has committed that his administration will embark on child protection measures including designing and launching a national programme on Adolescents and Sexual and Reproductive Health, which will increase opportunities for pregnant girls and teenage mothers to have access to education.
In 2018, the AU called on member countries to “Leave No Child Behind for Africa’s Development.”
The AU should ensure that pregnant girls and adolescent mothers are included in the agenda to leave no child behind, Human Rights Watch said.
The report further called on all countries to adopt comprehensive approaches to support young mothers to continue with education, while tackling the root causes of early and unplanned teenage pregnancies.
“They should provide adolescents with access to sexual and reproductive health services, include comprehensive sexuality education at school and in the community, and ensure access to a range of contraceptive methods, and safe and legal abortion,” the Report added.
Alhassan Deen-Turay, a child mobiliser in Aberdeen who works with Child Advocacy Network (CAN) with support from Save the Children, said they work with children in a program called Life Skills, where they are taught critical thinking to decide something positive for themselves and try to help them to identify their talents.
They have over 40 children that they are working with in Life Skills, and they also have ‘Fambul Weldbodi 3’ that deals with teenage mothers.
There are 20 teenage mothers that are benefiting form Save the Children program. Ten of them have returned to school and the other decided to go into skills training like tailoring, catering, amongst others.
One of the beneficiaries, Jerelyn Bundor, 16, has returned to school leaving her two-year old son with her aunt. “I got pregnant because my aunt wasn’t giving me money, so I had to sleep with the man that was giving me money,” she said.
ZJ/19/6/18
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque
Thursday June 21, 2018.
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