Malawi (EN)

Policy Brief

An Overview of Existing Policies and Practice on Re-entry Policies for Teenage Mothers in Malawi

F A W E

FAWE Forum for African Women Educa�onalists Forum des éducatrices africaines

FAWE Malawi

IntroductionThis policy brief highlights existing policies and practice on school re-entry for teenage mothers in Malawi. It draws from the country research and report on school re-entry policies for teenage mothers in Malawi. It looks at existing institutional frameworks – including laws, policies and guidelines. It then examines the functionality of existing institutional frameworks. Based on this analysis, the document concludes by providing recommendations that ought to be considered to bring the school re-entry policy landscape on teenage mothers in Malawi to comply with agreed international norms and standards in upholding the educational rights of teenage mothers.

According to the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Report, in Malawi, 29% of women and young girls aged between 15 and 19 years have had a live birth or are pregnant and that 47% of young girls marry before the age of 18 years.1 This undermines government policy, which makes it compulsory for anyone below the age of 18 years to be in school.2 Compulsory education for children below 18 years is meant as a deterrent for child marriages, as well as forestalling teenage pregnancies until completion of secondary education. In addition, the government has outlawed marriages of children under the age of 18 years. It does seem that these policies are yet to have their desired effect. Early marriages and teenage pregnancies continue to affect girls’ school retention and educational attainment. In fact, half of the girls drop out of school before they reach eighteen years.

The Policy Context

The Revised Guidelines for Implementation of the Readmission Policy aim at enhancing the retention of girls at both primary and secondary school levels. The Ministry of Science, Education, and Technology (MoEST) reviewed the readmission policy in 2018 to make is implementation simpler, devolving implementation to the school level. The purpose is to increase enrolment, retention and completion of the basic education phase. The policy also ensures that special backing mechanisms exist at family and community levels to assist the teenage parents. It provides guidance to all education sector stakeholders on readmission both for girls who fall pregnant and for the boys responsible for the pregnancy.

Girls are not allowed to remain in school but are expected to return to class one year after giving birth. This is only possible if school re-entry falls at the beginning of the first term of the academic calendar. Essentially, if the six months fall after or before the first term, the time of re-entry may also be extended to more than one year. The Readmission Policy does not address all the challenges facing young women who seek re-entry, including stigma from teachers and peers,

issues with infant feeding, and a lack of childcare options. The policy is bureaucratically cumbersome, requiring that a pregnant teenager write a letter to withdraw from school, wait at least one year to seek re-entry after giving birth, and reapply for enrollment. It is not implemented evenly in practice, with teachers and administrators adjudicating school returns on a case-by-case basis. Young fathers, who are also supposed to be suspended, are rarely required to leave school 3. On a more positive note, there is no requirement for certification from medical personnel to ascertain the girls’ fitness to return to school.

There are contextual factors and barriers that hinder the Policy’s full and effective implementation. These barriers include:

Gaps and Opportunities of Change

Social and Cultural Factors

Teenage pregnancies and school dropouts occur within a complex web of social and cultural norms around marriage which shape the understanding and practices of parents and the wider community. These norms make it socially acceptable for parents to send their pregnant girls into marriage irrespective of the girls’ education attainment or, worse still, age. Teenage pregnancy is perceived an indicator of a girl’s maturity; it signals their ripeness for marriage even if they are still below 18 years.

The Readmission Policy has not had the effect it should because of accommodative attitudes toward child marriages. Most communities and parents see teenage marriage as a desirable and an achievement. The study established that in households where such attitudes are prevalent, teenage girls are socialized to believe and to expect early marriage as an acceptable practice. The study also found out that parents and teenagers who hold such views lack awareness of the Readmission Policy. Teachers expressed their frustrations in working against these highly ingrained cultural practices, and they observed that mothergroups find it no easier to convince parents to resend their children to school after delivery. Often, these teenage mothers go by the decision of their parents including getting married as early as 14 years.

Mother groups, teachers and other stakeholders who physically follow up on the pregnant girls and young mothers to convince them to go back to school have met stiff resistance from parents and sometimes they have encountered verbal insults. The motivations for not wanting to send girls back to school are often economic. Parents of

1 National Statistical Office (NSO) [Malawi] and ICF. 2017. Malawi Demographic and Health Survey 2015-16. Zomba, Malawi, and Rockville, Maryland, USA. NSO and ICF. pp.56-73.

2 Section 13 of Education Act, 2013

3 https://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2019/05/02/readmission-policy-and-state-ngo-funder-relations-in-malawi/

teenage mothers often demand money from the man responsible for the pregnancy. Some parents see their daughters’ pregnancy as an opportunity for earning cash.

Other cultural practices in Malawi reinforce parental and community attitudes to towards teenage pregnancy and child marriages. For instance, in the process of gathering evidence for this study, initiation rites emerged as a major facilitator of pregnancies and early marriages. Teachers particularly expressed displeasure over initiation ceremonies because they claim some of the topics covered during these ceremonies have adult content that arouse the sexual curiosity of young girls and boys. These cultural practices make children believe they are adults and therefore, capable of engaging in adult behaviour including sex and marriage.

These practices breach existing laws and government policy. It is a criminal offence to marry; or engage in sexual relations with; or give away a child below the age 18 years in marriage. These clear legal provisions have little traction in most rural areas where ignorance towards this law is coupled with its weak enforcement. Implementation of the Readmission Policy within such populations has been less than optimal. FAWEMA and other organizations working on teenage pregnancy and school re-entry indicate that they intensify awareness raising sessions in schools soon after initiation ceremonies. Initiation ceremonies mostly occur during the long summer holiday. This period also coincides with the sharpest spikes in school dropouts.

Peer Pressure and Poverty

Peer pressure and influence amongst teenagers result in school dropouts. In Lilongwe, for instance, the study established that peer pressure compels girls from lower socioeconomic households to engage in risky behaviour in order to finance their education. When inability of parents to provide the basic resources their daughters need is compounded by peer pressure and influence from other girls, some girls engage in inter-generational sex to be able buy school materials like books, uniform and other school needs. Moreover, some poor parents might encourage their adolescent children daughters to marry for purely economic reasons aimed at shoring up a household’s income.4 Girls from such households will thus look for men who have material and financial means.

In Mzimba, particularly, many young men work as migrant workers in South Africa. These young men entice adolescent girls with material things they bring back home. Consequently, girls end up being pregnant and drop out of school. When other adolescents see the change in economic status of married teenagers, some get tempted to follow suit. Teachers and mother groups find it particularly challenging to rescue girls from early marriages and reintegrate them into school. In some areas, considerable success has been noted in getting girls back to school because of interventions from organisations like UNICEF.5 One girl targeted by UNICEF

indicated that she actually operates from her husband’s home. Though anecdotal, some people are of the view that some girls are compelled to go back to school because of the material support that UNICEF offers rather than a genuine willingness to continue with education. Despite these divergent views, the most critical factor though remains facilitation of re-entry into school and sustained retention and educational attainment.

There are exceptions to negative peer influence. This study documented the example of Bunda Primary School in Lilongwe. The school experiences lower dropout rates compared to other schools within Lilongwe Rural East. Teachers attributed this to the fact that the school is located within the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources campus. Students from the university often visit the school and provide mentorship or career talks to the children. This is a voluntary undertaking by the university students themselves.

Inadequate Government Commitment in Addressing Social, Cultural and Economic Factors

In principle, the government should be providing learning materials such as books. This is not happening as it should. Instead, organisations like FAWEMA and UNICEF are supplementing this role. FAWEMA, through its project, ‘Keeping Girls in School,’ improved enrolment and retention rates and substantially reduced absenteeism in schools. Similarly, in the districts or schools where UNICEF has some interventions going on, there is sustained high enrolment and retention of girls. The problem with delegating such responsibilities to non-state agencies is the lack of sustainability and institutionalization within government policies, planning and budgets.

Lack of Awareness on Relevant Policy and Legislative Frameworks

There exists limited awareness among community members of the relevant laws and policies governing education in Malawi, including the Readmission Policy. The effect of this is a laissez faire approach to girls’ education, especially in rural areas. This study encountered glaring lack of awareness among parents, which is compounded by these parents’ own low levels of education. Generally, parents who never had an education, or those with very little education often do not appreciate the value of education. They are unlikely to enforce re-entry of their girls to school after delivery. This becomes a vicious cycle which feeds and fuels transgenerational illiteracy and poverty in these areas.

Parents’ ignorance of government laws and policies or their apathy towards such laws is reinforced by weak enforcement by lower level government agencies charged with policy implementation and/or law enforcement. For instance, the Penal Code criminalises marriage of children under 18 years

4 Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, ‘A Rapid Assessment Study of Teenage Pregnancies and Child Marriages During COVID-19 in Malawi.’ pp.14

5 UNICEF is running a project on reintegrating girls into schools in six districts targeting one hundred girls in each district.

while the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Management) Act, 2017 has a list of socio-cultural practices that are deemed harmful and therefore, prohibited in the country. Some of them have to do with initiation ceremonies. Enforcement of these laws and policies could ensure effective implementation of the Readmission Policy, but weak enforcement means that this task is often left to teachers and mother-groups. Besides, the absence of a tangible monitoring mechanism to account for all girls who drop out due to pregnancy severely compounds the problem.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 severely disrupted education on multiple fronts. With the resumption of learning, children have had to learn in two alternating shifts. Younger learners and those with disability find it hard and risky to walk the long distances to attend the afternoon classes. This practice was introduced during the farming season when most rural areas are generally bushy with overgrown vegetation and crops like maize. This added a layer of danger and insecurity to girls and younger children. In Lilongwe rural east, which is prone to banditry, some children choose to stay away from school especially the afternoon shift as they are afraid of walking home late in the evening.6

This study established that the spate of school dropouts among girls was significantly heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. A rapid assessment report by the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare7 found that cases of child marriages have equally increased in all the districts of the country during the one year of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is evidence of an upsurge in teenage pregnancies and child marriages during the pandemic period. The evidence indicates that Salima registered an increase of 11.5% (the lowest) while Mangochi registered an increase of 99% (the highest). The assessment also established that there was an upward pattern of teenage pregnancies during the same period. For instance, teenage pregnancies increased by 99% in Phalombe, one of the districts targeted in this study.

Blantyre District is of particular interest as they record that in just one year (COVID-19 period), a total of 3,728 children dropped out of school and out of this figure, 2,064 were girls representing about 55% of the total dropout rate. Intuitively, these figures point to early marriages and teenage pregnancies. It is highly improbable that all these dropouts will be salvaged and reintegrated back to schools.

The MoE allowed girls who got pregnant during the COVID-19 long break to write exams whilst pregnant. However, on the ground, it took personal interest and commitment of teachers to enforce the ministerial directive. Teachers were particularly concerned with some students they deemed intelligent and with potential to make it to the next level.

6 According to the PEA at Chiseka TDC, the afternoon shift ends at 16:00 hours.

However, most of these girls never went back to school opting for marriage. Inevitably, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been deleterious on girls’ education and will require long-term sustainable interventions to repair the damage.

Gaps in Policy Implementation

Malawi’s policy and legislative framework on re-entry appears progressive on paper but its implementation is haphazard. The actual implementation seems to rest with teachers and PEAs, who are aware of its existence. However, most schools, especially primary schools do not have copies of the policy. Awareness in schools is passed on through TDCs to head teachers by word of mouth. Even at TDC level, some PEAs have a copy of the policy while some do not. It also seems that the guidelines on the revised version of the policy were only made available last year.

Nearly all policy and legislative documents are readily available on the MoE website. However, for most rural schools without computers nor access to internet, there could be a challenge in obtaining the documents. Most teachers do not even know of the existence of the website and the downloadable documents. The policy provides for learner drop out and learner readmission forms to be signed by the learner, head teacher and parents, but these are unavailable in the schools and neither are they available online. Some schools have resorted to designing their own forms while others have stuck to the old school of writing letters (written by the learner or parents) on both withdrawing from school and re-entry.

There is also haphazard implementation of the date of return to school after delivery. Teachers agree on the need to release the pregnant girls immediately there is evidence that she is expectant but differ on procedures for re-entry. However, most teachers insist on girls getting readmitted at the start of the first term. In terms of how long she can go on maternity rest, the responses varied from two weeks to one year. FAWEMA indicated that the period is one year though the policy indicates six months.8 Finally, another critical area that is being handled erratically is provision of psychosocial support and counselling. On a positive note, the idea of pairing the returning girls with mentors is a commendable way of reintegrating the girl into the school. Teachers are also assigned to provide counselling to the girl and the whole school to avoid verbal abuse against the girl. However, no standard programme exists which teachers can follow to ensure that girls are fully reintegrated into schools. Some schools indicated that sometimes, some girls still drop out after returning to school preferring to get married or simply stay at home. Withdrawing after being readmitted is a clear sign of failure to change the mentality of the child. The haphazard approach to counselling as noted during the study

is obviously not an effective way of ensuring sustainable reintegration.

Recommendations

1. The Ministry of Science, Education, and Technology (MoEST) should be petitioned to review the policy of immediate suspension of girls on discovery of pregnancy. Girls should be allowed and encouraged to stay in school until a month or slightly more than a month, depending on a girl’s medical condition and mental state. Similarly, the requirement for application for readmission should be dropped. It is an unnecessary burden for girls.

2. There is need to massive community awareness raising on the benefits of teenage mothers continuing with their education. The mother-groups model should be given institutional support in government structures – much in the same way that most governments have embraced community health volunteers in the area of health service delivery. Besides mother-groups, schools and teachers should be supported to identify and follow up girls who leave school on the grounds of pregnancy, whether they are married or not. In addition, these efforts should be buttressed by stringent enforcement of existing laws and policies on children’s educational rights. In this regard, FAWE will need to build a broad-based coalitionto ensure change is leveraged, and policy implementation effectively addresses the gaps.

3. Where teenage girls are already married, the policy should make it mandatory for their spouses to continue to enrol them in school. Admittedly, child marriages are illegal, but there will be occasions when teenage mothers already have a child or children, and prefer to remain in the marriage union. Measures to encourage and support them to continue their education must be explored and aggressively pursued.

4. Teenage mothers should be allowed to enter school at any point of the school academic calendar. Extending the

re-entry period to six months or one year acts as a further incentive for girls to leave school and probably pursue marriage.

5. There is urgent need for a standardised curriculum for mentorship with clear guidelines on how this should be done and a training programme for both teachers and pupil mentors. Within such a framework, it is important to institutionalise and formalise the buddy/mentor relationship with a relevant counselling programme for this relationship. This framework should be extended to include the mother groups and parents/caregivers so that a continuum of mentorship is developed right from the household through to the community and school levels.

6. The government should employ a devolved approach to decision making which allows districts and schools to adapt learning programmes to suit what works within localised contexts in light of Covid-19. A uniform approach is ill-suited to contextually varied dynamics in the face of Covid-19.

7. There is need for the MoEST to pay particular attention to child-headed households so that they do not drop out of school due to lack of parental care and guidance. Child headed households should be linked to mother groups and the mother groups supported in linking them with schools and with other social and economic support mechanisms.

8. There is need for government to make available the withdrawal and readmission forms in schools. The forms should explicitly indicate what date a girl is supposed to report back to school as this will make monitoring easier. Eventually, the government must consider doing away with the requirement of withdrawal and readmission forms as a condition for readmission, and additionally consider allowing pregnant teenagers to continue with their education until it becomes medically infeasible to continue with their studies.

7 Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, ‘ibid. pp.3-13

8 The six-month period was extended to one year after stakeholder consultations but the policy document has not been amended.

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