Policy Brief
A Regional Overview of Re-entry Policies for Teenage Mothers
Introduction
This policy presents an overview of existing policies and practice on re-entry policies for teenage mothers across four countries in Africa. Based on a careful analysis of country specific contexts, it can be concluded that these four countries – Namibia, Malawi, Senegal and Tanzania –represent a broad spectrum of policy and practice on school re-entry policies for teenage mothers. The policy brief highlights international and standard norms, and then weighs this against prevailing practice in each country. This document supplements the studies done in each of the countries mentioned, and it summarizes the key policy messages contained in the regional report, which also synthesizes country level experiences.
The debate on teenage pregnancy, teenage mothers and the educational rights of teenage mothers continues to be characterized by varying worldviews. On the one hand are the purists and moralists, who see teenage pregnancy and motherhood in adolescence as a moral aberration. This view explicitly or implicitly holds that allowing teenage mothers to resume basic education will lead to moral decay across primary and secondary schools. It must be avoided. On the hand and are those who adopt a normative rights-based approach. This worldview sees allowing pregnant girls or teenage mothers to continue with their learning as conforming to internationally agreed norms and standards. It faults the family, society and the state in general for their failure to respect the rights of every child to education, and for failure to offer comprehensive sexuality education, which is a proven preventative measure. On the extreme end are the rhetorical commitments by the African states to offer free and unimpeded access to quality basic education to all children. Paradoxically, the same African states also erect encumbrances in policies, laws, and guidelines on re-entry policies for teenage mothers.
An overview of international and continental norms and standards
There exist a number of normative frameworks at international and continental levels that explicitly guarantee the right of girls to education. At the international level, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child1 (UN CRC) mandates States Parties in Article 2 (2) to take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child’s parents, legal guardians, or family members. The UN CRC further demands of States Parties in Article 28 (1) to recognize the right of the child to education, with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity. It proceeds to specify that, one, primary
1 https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
education shall be compulsory and available free to all; and two, that States parties should take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of dropout rates. In keeping with these explicit provisions, pregnant teenage girls and teenage mothers, being children, should have unhindered access to their education, and should not be discriminated against or penalized/punished for having become pregnant.
In its General comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence2, the Committee on the Rights of the Child observes in paragraph 55 (Adolescent-headed families) that in keeping with Articles 24 and 27 of the Convention, adolescent parents and caregivers should be provided with basic knowledge of child health, nutrition and breastfeeding, and appropriate support to assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities towards the children they are responsible for and, when needed, material assistance with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing. It adds further that adolescent caregivers need extra support in order to enjoy their rights to education, play and participation.
Similarly, Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)3 requires States Parties to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education. It directs that States Parties shall guarantee the same conditions for career and vocational guidance, for access to studies and for the achievement of diplomas in educational establishments of all categories in rural as well as in urban areas. It further directs States Parties to ensure the reduction of female student dropout rates and the organization of programmes for girls and women who have left school prematurely.
All African countries are committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Target 4.1 projects that by 2030, all girls and boys will be completing free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. Target 4.3 likewise projects that by 2030, governments will have ensured equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university. SDG 5 aims at achieving gender equality and empowerment for all women and girls. In target 5.1 the SDGs aim to end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere; and in target 5c the SDGs aim for the adoption and strengthening of sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
2 https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/GenderDigital/CRC_2.pdf
3 https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cedaw.aspx
At the continental level, the premier guiding framework on children’s rights is The African Charter on the Rights and welfare of the Child (ACRWC, 1990).4 Article 11(6) of the ACRWC is very explicit on how teenage pregnancies should be handled. It requires States Parties to the Charter to take all appropriate measures to ensure that children who become pregnant before completing their education shall have an opportunity to continue their education on the basis of their individual ability. Furthermore, in their joint comment, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,” Joint General Comment on Ending Child Marriage, (2017)5, both organizations, at paragraph 31 state thus:
… States Parties should pursue policies and plans designed to achieve equal access by girls and boys to education. These policies should include measures to encourage pregnant girls to keep attending or returning to school. It is compulsory for States Parties to facilitate the retention and re-entry of pregnant or married girls in schools and to develop alternative education programmes such as skills acquisition and vocational training in circumstances where women are unable or unwilling to return to school following pregnancy or marriage.
Another important point of reference is the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25)6, adopted by the African Union Heads of State and Government at their Twenty-Sixth Ordinary Session on 31st January 2016 in Addis Ababa. It is the framework for transforming education and training systems in Africa. The CESA 16-25 was established as a means of creating a new African citizen who will be an effective change agent for the continent’s sustainable development as envisioned by the AU and its 2063 Agenda. Strategic Objective 5 of CESA 16-25 specifically requires African States to accelerate processes leading to gender parity and equity by:
1. Scaling up successful retention experiences in the service of at-risk gender groups (girls and boys) and enhancing their performance
2. Ensuring successful progression from one level to another throughout the system
3. Mobilizing communities to become partners in ensuring that girls (and boys as appropriate) enroll, stay and achieve in schools
4. Developing relevant interventions to address constraints of access and success at all levels
As is evident from the examples given above, there is sufficient guidance on the principles, standards and norms
that should be applied by governments in promoting and protecting the rights of pregnant teenage girls and those of teenage mothers. African states are aware of these continental and international norms and principles, most of which they have committed themselves to uphold and to implement. However, most African states have failed to guarantee the right of teenage mothers to education, and most countries adopt wide ranging discretionary measures in implementing these policies, norms and standards.
The Context of Teenage pregnancy in Africa
An estimated 45% of the pregnancies among young women age 15–19 in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are unintended. These in turn result in unintended births, unsafe abortions and miscarriages7. The corresponding figures of teenage pregnancies are for Senegal (16.4%8), Malawi (29%), Namibia (19%), and Tanzania (27%). Nearly half of the unsafe abortion cases in sub-Saharan Africa also occur among adolescent girls and young women under the age of 25 years. Adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa have one of the highest birth rates compared to adolescents in the other regions of the world, accounting for a significant proportion of the overall fertility in many countries in the region9. High adolescent birth rates reflect the vulnerabilities they experience and the lack of opportunities available to them.
A wide range of factors contribute to the high rates of unintended pregnancy and unplanned births among adolescents. These include: poor knowledge of sexual and reproductive health services, legal barriers to accessing services, provider bias, stigma around premarital sex and lower decision making autonomy of married adolescents10. Early and unintended pregnancies among adolescents are associated with several adverse health, educational, social and economic outcomes. Childbirth is risky for adolescent girls and research indicates that pregnancy-related conditions are the second major cause of death among adolescent girls in developing countries11. Adolescent pregnancy also interrupts young women’s schooling, thus endangering their future economic opportunities, including reducing job market opportunities. The effects of adolescent childbearing also extends to the health of their infants with evidence of higher perinatal deaths and low birth weight among babies born to mothers under 20 years of age.
Many African governments continue to deny teenage mothers the right to education. Where policies exist to allow girls to continue with their education, governments place a plethora of punitive measures that girls must meet before
4 https://www.acerwc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/African_Children_Charter_Website_Version_English_2015.pdf
5 https://www.acerwc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Website_Joint_GC_ACERWC-ACHPR_Ending_Child_Marriage_20_January_2018.pdf
6 https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/29958-doc-cesa_-_english-v9.pdf
7 Wado et al. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2019) 19:59; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-019-2204-z
8 https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/senegal/indicator/SP.MTR.1519.ZS
9 Wado et al, (2019), op.cit
10 Cited in Wado et al, (2019).
11 Ibid.
they are re-admitted. Other factors also contribute to thousands of adolescent mothers not continuing formal education, highest among these is the lack of awareness about re-entry policies among communities, girls, teachers, and school officials that girls can and should go back to school12
Poverty, lack of education and gender inequality perpetuate early age at marriage, early childbearing and undermine successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. Poverty and socio-economic deprivation expose adolescent girls to early sexual debut and intergenerational sex. Poverty is a grave issue that plays a significant cyclical and compounding role in the level of education and rate of teenage pregnancy. Poverty limits freedom, opportunities, and resources and creates conditions for powerlessness, exclusion and vulnerabilities. Such vulnerabilities can exacerbate predisposing conditions for lack of education and teenage pregnancy. For example, poverty can drive adolescents to commit to early marriage and drop out from school. Adolescents with no formal education, a lower level of education, or those who are not enrolled in school are more likely to become pregnant. Additionally, many girls drop out from school when they feel marriage or/and pregnancy is a better option to their socioeconomic conditions, and this in turn contributes to teenage pregnancy13 .
Existing Policies, Legal Frameworks and Guidelines on School Re-entry for Teenage Mothers
Each of the countries has educational policies and plans that govern the implementation of learning in their respective countries. In Senegal, for instance, the principal policy regulating the education of the youth is the Ten-Years Law, titled Law 2004-37 modifying and supplementing the National Education Orientation Law 91-22 of 16 February 1991. This law was adopted on December 15th, 2004, following the “Ten-Year Education and Training Programme” of 200014. It is implemented by the Government through the Ministry of National Education. Article 1 of the Law 2004-37 stipulates that : “Schooling is compulsory for all children of both sexes between the ages of 6 and 16” and further states that “The state has the obligation to maintain within the school system children aged 6 to 16 years old”15. The law confers on the state the responsibility for ensuring access to free education for all children between 6 and 16. By implication, the law envisages the community’s responsibility as that of ensuring children are enrolled and retained in schools. The import of this law is that it is illegal to terminate
the education of a girl in that age range on the grounds of pregnancy.
In the case of Namibia, the Basic Education Act 3 of 202016 (Article 13 (1-4) repeals the Education Act 16 of 2001. The Act takes a proactive and pre-emptive approach by demanding that the Ministry of Education develops a learner pregnancy policy focusing on the prevention and management of learner pregnancies in schools. The learner pregnancy policy must address, amongst others, the establishment of a monitoring mechanism to assess the implementation of the policy in schools; the issuing of guidelines to strengthen the life skills curriculum in schools with a strong emphasis on prevention; and the teaching of life skills education by trained teachers. The specific regulations and guidelines on management of teenage pregnancy are contained in the Education Sector Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy, of 2012, of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (MoEAC)17
In Malawi, the National Education Policy (NEP) focuses on broad policy directions that include: increased numbers of girls who equitably access, participate in, excel and complete primary education; tuition fee free primary education; and readmission of teenage mothers and the boys responsible for those pregnancies. The Revised Policy and Guidelines for Implementation of the Readmission aims at retaining girls in both primary and secondary schools. The policy provides guidance to all education sector stakeholders on readmission both for girls who fall pregnant and for the boys responsible for the pregnancy. This is the only policy that specifically addresses school drop outs and readmission on the basis of pregnancy.
In Tanzania, the principal guiding document for the education sector is the Education Sector Development Plans (ESDP) –2016/17 – 2020/21 for mainland Tanzania. The current ESDP emphasizes Tanzania’s commitment to providing twelve years of free and compulsory Basic Education to the entire population, leaving no one behind; and the progressive expansion of Technical and Vocational Education and Training to provide Tanzania with the pool of skilled human resources needed to advance to becoming a semi-industrialized middle-income country by 2025. Under the section on Access, Participation and Equity (4.6.1), among the priorities listed include equitable participation in and completion of fee-free basic education for all, with particular attention to excluded groups, children with disabilities, out-of-school children, and through multiple pathways, formal and nonformal.
Mainland Tanzania developed the Guidelines on How to Enable Pregnant School Girls to Continue with Their Studies
12 Leave No Girl Behind in Africa: Discrimination in Education against Pregnant Girls and Adolescent Mothers–2018 Human Rights Watch
13 Cited in, Rebekah Mohr, Jose Carbajal and Bonita B. Sharma: The Influence of Educational Attainment on Teenage Pregnancy in Low-Income Countries: A Systematic Literature Review–Journal of Social Work in the Global Community 2019, Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 19–31 DOI: 10.5590/JSWGC.2019.04.1.02
14 Programme Décennal de l’Education et de la Formation, PDEF
15 Article 1 de la Loi 2004-37 du 15 Décembre 2004 modifiant et complétant le Loi d’Orientation de l’Education Nationale n° 91-22 du 16 Février 1991.
16 https://www.lac.org.na/laws/2020/7257.pdf
17 http://www.moe.gov.na/files/downloads/99b_Learner%20Pregnancy%20policy%20final%202010-10-18.pdf
(200918) but these have never been implemented. Instead, the country practiced blanket expulsion of girls who fall pregnant while still in school during the late President John Pombe Magufuli’s regime. Notably, this practice was neither backed up by any explicit policy or legal framework. The current regime of President Samia Suluhu Hassan has adopted a more enabling policy stance towards teenage mothers’ readmission. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGZ) enacted a law called Spinsters and Single Parent Children Protection Act Number 4 of 2005. The law allows girls who fall pregnant while in primary and secondary schools to continue with their studies after delivery (Niboye, 2018, see endnotes for full reference).
Review of Effectiveness of Existing Policy Frameworks
Namibia seems to have the most comprehensive and progressive re-entry policies, compared to the other three countries. The Education Sector Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy of 2012 of Namibia aims at enhancing the prevention and management of learner pregnancy, decreasing the number of learner pregnancies and increasing the number of learner-parents who complete their education. The policy is thus an explicit acknowledgment of girls’ rights to education, including girls who become pregnant before completing their education. Additionally, the policy requires that health professionals and school counsellors in schools be accorded permission to provide training and regular information sharing on reproductive health topics; teaching of comprehensive sexuality education to all learners from grade four or at an appropriate age; and the referral of pregnant learners to social workers at the Ministry responsible for child welfare, especially orphans and vulnerable children so that they can obtain relevant information on childcare and legal obligation.
The policy stipulates that pregnant learners, among other things, can stay in school for up to 8 months before she is due for delivery. It further requires school principals to maintain strict confidentiality of any medical information provided by the learner in order to protect the learner’s right to privacy. The girl may choose to continue with her education at school until 4 weeks before her expected due date, as certified by a health care provider, or take a leave of absence from an earlier date if this is advised by a health care provider on medical grounds, or if she feels unable or unwilling to continue attending school during any stage of pregnancy.
The policy provides that the girl may continue with her education after giving birth. The learner may choose to return to school as soon as she can supply the specified documentation or she may choose to take a longer period of leave up to a maximum of one calendar year from the date on which she left school because of the pregnancy. She may
take a longer leave of absence, but then her place at school will not be guaranteed. In order to ensure that her place at school will be reserved during her leave of absence, the learner and her family must maintain clear communication with the school regarding the date on which when she intends to return.
The policy sets a number of conditions to be met before a teenage mother can be readmitted. First, a social worker (or the Principal if no social worker is readily available) must be satisfied that the infant will be cared for by a responsible adult. Secondly, a health care provider should provide a statement that the learner-parent is in a suitable state of health and wellbeing. Thirdly, the learner-parent and her parents, primary caretaker or guardian must provide a signed statement with an exposition on how the infant will be cared for and an undertaking to maintain open communication with the school. These regulations can be potentially limiting, and while the intention is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the teenage mother and her newborn, the requirements impose unnecessary conditions on the girl.
Malawi’s Readmission Policy is equally progressive, and was further strengthened in 2006 by drafting the Guidelines for Implementation of the Readmission Policy. The guidelines aim at retaining girls in both primary and secondary schools. The Ministry of Science, Education, and Technology (MoEST) reviewed the readmission policy in 2018 to make its implementation simpler, devolving its 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 at family and community levels are instituted to assist the teen-age 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. Malawi’s Readmission Policy provides no requirement for certification from medical personnel to ascertain the girls’ fitness to return to school. This is highly progressive, as it removes the additional burden girls need to clear to gain re-entry.
The Readmission Policy is in conformity with Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, which stipulates that all persons are entitled to education, (Section 25 (1); and that children are entitled to be protected from economic exploitation or any form of maltreatment, work or punishment that is, or is likely to inter alia, interfere with their education. Even though the Constitution has been reviewed many times, it has not pronounced itself in any other significant way on education as a whole and in particular, on the readmission of pregnant girls. The closest that the government has come to ensuring girls stay in school is to stipulate that anyone below the age of eighteen years is considered a child. The government did this to prevent school dropouts especially with respect to early marriages and teen pregnancies.
One major drawback of the policy is that girls are not allowed to remain in school but are expected to return to class one year after giving birth. This only applies if the girl’s return coincides with the beginning of the first term of the academic calendar. This means that if the six months falls 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 school19
The weakest link in the Readmission Policy is the lack of a comprehensive mechanism to ensure that all girls who drop out resume their schooling. At the moment, this task is left to teachers and mother-groups who do this out of their personal concern for the girls. There is no requirement to compel girls or parents to send their girls back to school. For this reason, some parents choose to marry off their pregnant girls since even the laws that prevent such marriages are barely ever enforced.
In Senegal, even though the Ten-Years Law was adopted in 2004, there continued to prevail confusion and ambiguity around its application, especially when it came to dealing with school girls’ pregnancies, as many schools were still expelling girls on the grounds of pregnancy. To clear those ambiguities and as a gesture of offering protection to pregnant schoolgirls, a circular issued on the Ten-Years Law in 2007. It is the Circular n° 004379/ME/SG/DEMSG/DAJLD on the Management of Student Marriages and Pregnancies in School20 which was released on October 11th, 2007 meant to pre-empt further expulsion of teenage mothers from continuing with their studies.
The Circular asserts that: “Pregnant students are suspended from school until delivery for safety reasons. The state of pregnancy must first be duly established by a doctor recognized and approved by the State. Reinstatement in the school is based on the presentation of a medical certificate of aptitude to resume classes”. This means that the even though pregnant student’s education cannot be terminated due to her pregnancy, the medical report is a determining factor. The ostensible reason is to safeguard the health and wellbeing of expectant mother and the baby-to-be.
The pregnant schoolgirl is expected to stay at home until after delivery, when it has become clear that her health is stable enough to allow her to return to school. Just like in the Namibian case above, the teenage mother is required to obtain a letter from an accredited physician to officially certify that she is in a good condition to resume her studies. Upon the presentation of the doctor’s certification, the teenage mother can either re-enter the same school that she was in, or opt for a different school based on preference. Here it is also important to mention that the new teenage mother retakes the classes from the school year where she left, and therefore does not simply resume classes, but repeats them, according to the Circular. The benefits of the Ten-Years Law are also undermined by the marriage laws in Senegal, which allows girls under the age of 18 years to get into marriage.
The enforcement of the Ten-Years Law and of its subsequent Circular is also wanting. A critical review of the enforcement of the law indicates that its weakest link is in its relative obscurity. Although the Circular appeared on the Official Journal of the Government at the time, which is the channel through which new laws and decrees are made public and known by all, there was not enough coverage in the news reaching directly school bodies and school officials.
Tanzania comes at the end of continuum in terms of how enabling its policies are with regard to teenage mothers’ reentry in schools. Recent trends indicate marked progress towards to amore enabling environment for teenage mothers. The country has a dual system, with the policies on the Isles of Zanzibar being more progressive than those of the mainland.
Education Sector Development Plans (ESDP) – 2016/17 –2020/21 stipulates objectives, which if fully implemented, should enable all Tanzanian children – both boys and girls – to complete their basic education. However, official government practice is evidently at odds with the ESDP’s aspirations. The practice of expelling pregnant girls from school and denying them a chance to resume their studies after delivery shuts out thousands of girls from ever completing their basic education. The debate on whether pregnant teenage mothers should be allowed to resume their studies is an old one in Tanzania. Various policy pronouncements have recognized the need to allow pregnant teenage mothers to continue with their education. For instance, the Guidelines on How to Enable Pregnant School Girls to Continue with Their Studies (200921) recognizes the need to allow pregnant and teenage mothers to continue with their education in making the following admission:
19 https://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2019/05/02/readmission-policy-and-state-ngo-funder-relations-in-malawi/
20 La Circulaire n° 004379/ME/SG/DEMSG/DAJLD du 11 Octobre 2007 portant sur la Gestion des mariages et des grossesses d’élèves dans les établissements scolaires.
21 http://www.tzdpg.or.tz/fileadmin/documents/dpg_internal/dpg_working_groups_clusters/cluster_2/education/Guidelines_Enabling_Pregnant_Girls_ to_re-enter_school-FINAL_March_2010.pdf
The government is alarmed at the rate [at] which […] school girls who have been forced to terminate or [are] being expelled from schools, just because of early marriages and/ or pregnancies. Tanzania needs skilled and well educated women and men to take part in the development of the country, so it cannot just stand aside while it is losing the most precious contribution of many young Tanzanian women to the development of the country because of early marriages and pregnancies.
The guidelines proceed to offer a number of directives which should enable girls to resume their studies after delivery. Some of the directives are punitive, including the requirement for obtaining a suspension letter from the school by the pregnant teenager, obtaining a letter from a recognized doctor as evidence of the pregnancy, and the insistence on the pregnant girl revealing the identity of the man responsible for the pregnancy. The same punitive measures are extended to the school boy who makes a girl pregnant, who is to be suspended alongside the girl. It needs noting that these guidelines, from the Key Informants interviewed, have never been implemented except for insistence on the girl revealing the identity of the man responsible for the pregnancy.
One study22 notes that the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) in mainland Tanzania made it clear in the year 2010 that there was no official policy that demanded expulsion of pregnant teenage girls from school or preventing them from returning to school after delivery and thus, it instructed re-admission to school of the pregnant girls after delivery. It is doubtful that this directive was ever followed, and girls continued to be expelled from schools.
It needs to be noted that some teenage girls get pregnant because they are legally married – the Law of Marriage Act [Revised Edition of 201923) permits girls 15 years and above to get married. This is a departure from international norms, and Tanzania’s Law of the Child Act, which recognize a child to be any person who is 18 years and below. The marriage act provides as follows:
13.-(1) No person shall marry who, being male, has not attained the apparent age of eighteen years or, being female, has not attained the apparent age of fifteen years.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), the court shall, in its discretion, have power, on application, to give leave for a marriage where the parties are, or either of them is, below the ages prescribed in subsection (1) if-
(a) each party has attained the age of fourteen years; and
(b) the court is satisfied that there are special circumstances which make the proposed marriage desirable (Bold font added for emphasis)
The clamour for allowing teenage mothers to continue with education seemed to have lost momentum in June 2017 when the late Tanzanian President, Dr. John Pombe Magufuli, in one of his public speeches in Bagamoyo District directed that girls who become pregnant in school will henceforth not be allowed to continue with their education during his tenure as President24. He directed teen mothers to look for alternative education advancement options or engage outright in farming and other economic activities. Attempts by international actors, notably the World Bank, to apply pressure by suspending aid to Tanzania did not bear much fruit. A reversal of this policy stance was made and there are ongoing discussions on how to make it easier and more friendly for teenage mothers to resume learning after giving birth.
As already observed, the policy regimes on teenage pregnancy and resumption of schooling are more enabling for Tanzania isles of Zanzibar. In the year 2005, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGZ) enacted a law called Spinsters and Single Parent Children Protection Act Number 4 of 2005. The law allows girls who fall pregnant while in primary and secondary schools to continue with their studies after delivery. In spite of this enabling policy provision and the supportive legal context, many teenage girls who fall pregnant while in primary and secondary schools in Zanzibar still drop out of school every year (Niboye, 2018, see endnotes for full reference).
On the other hand, in most cases, the return to school of the teenage mothers is not smooth as expected and many fail to progress to upper secondary and higher education due to various individual, institutional and socio-cultural reasons. Niboye (2018, see endnotes) observes that teenage mothers in more supportive relationships, either through marriage or parental support, are more likely to resume their studies after delivery. He also notes no major handicaps in academic performance by teenage mothers; in fact he avers that those with ample support excel in their studies. One drawback of the policy in Zanzibar is that girls have only one chance of pregnancy. A girl who gets pregnant twice forfeits her chance to continue with her education.
Conclusions
First, all the four countries studied are members of the African Union (AU). By implication, they are enjoined in the continental commitments and aspirations of the AU on education, the educational rights of girls, and the AU’s clear position on non-discrimination. Secondly, all the four countries have national constitutions which guarantee fundamental rights and each has explicit provisions on non-
22 Niboye, op.cit
23 CHAPTER 29 THE LAW OF MARRIAGE ACT–REVISED EDITION OF 2019 https://tanzlii.org/tz/legislation/act/2019-17
24 Niboye, op.cit.
discrimination. Thirdly, all the four countries have national education policies and plans which aim to increase enrolments, retention, transition, and to achieve equity and quality in education outcomes. In principle, therefore, no country should discriminate in its practices against pregnant school girls or teenage mothers. Finally, on paper, each of the four countries has policy guidelines on re-entry for girls who become pregnant at either primary or secondary school levels.
The four countries are at different levels of policy implementation and practice. None of the countries fully implements the re-entry policies as stipulated in the national guidelines. Part of this lack of fidelity in the implementation of national guidelines could be attributed to gaps in institutional capacity. Across the board, lack of awareness of the existence of guidelines on re-entry policies was cited as a major policy implementation gap. However, there is also lack of political goodwill and a level of moralization of teenage pregnancy among policy makers and implementers at the lower levels. These constitute bottlenecks to the actualization of re-entry for teenage mothers, even if national policy guidelines provide for re-entry and non-discrimination. Tanzania Mainland, until recent times, represented the furthest in the continuum of obstacles to school re-entry for teenage mothers.
Certain requirements for readmission, even if well intended, might create further obstacles and disincentives for teenage mothers to seek re-entry. Teenage mothers start from a point of disadvantage. There is an aura of shame, guilt and stigma in most cultures on teenage pregnancy. Moreover, the twin burdens of parenting as a teenager and pursuing education in and of themselves hamper teenage girls from desiring reentry into schools. When additional encumbrances like medical certification (i.e. as in Senegal, Namibia and Tanzania), clearance with social workers (as in Namibia) and applications for readmission (as in Malawi) are imposed, teenage mothers might opt to leave school altogether.
Finally, based on the evidence gathered and analyzed for this assessment, all the four countries are still far from complying with international norms and standards on school re-entry for teenage mothers. Policy implementation is weak and enforcement of guidelines is equally weak and ad hoc. Moreover, the encumbrances placed by countries as conditions or requirements for readmission go against international norms and standards.
Recommendations
The following recommendations can be made:
1. Continued and concerted advocacy is needed on removing the barriers to pregnant teenage girls continuing with their education until it becomes medically infeasible to continue schooling, and to have enabling legislation that allows teenage mothers to resume their studies as soon as it is practical and feasible. The limitations on how many readmissions teenage mothers should be allowed to have ought to be removed from policies and guidelines. A campaign woven around girls rights to education should thus be mounted both at national and regional levels.
2. There is need to campaign for making school environments safe and friendly for teenage mothers. There should be zero tolerance for stigmatization by teachers and other learners, or any form of bullying. Moreover, where teenage mothers choose to bring their babies to school, special arrangements should be made for breast-feeding bays and other baby-care activities. Schools should offer psychosocial support to pregnant teachers and teenage mothers to enable them to cope and thrive in the school environment.
3. There is need for strengthening broad-based support and coalition building in the promotion of school re-entry policies. Such broad-based support needs to transcend the traditional barriers of civil society-state dichotomies. FAWE and its partners should network widely across government, regional inter-governmental organizations, civil society and the private sector at different levels to build a coalition or network that effectively campaigns against the barriers to re-entry policies. Issue framing that targets shared core values across the board are important to win the support of a broad cross-section of actors and stakeholders.
4. FAWE should identify policy windows and develop tailored advocacy campaigns to optimize on such opportunities. For instance, a unique opportunity has presented itself in the United Republic of Tanzania with the ascension to power of a female President. Working with like-minded organizations to present feasible, tangible alternative and solutions to existing policies would be the most ideal response to this policy window.