how tens of thousands of teenage girls were denied education because they were pregnant

Pregnant girls and new mothers can again continue their education in public colleges and high schools in Tanzania. It is a decision of the new president Samia Suluhu Hassan which put an end to the policy of discrimination followed by her predecessor.

In Tanzania, pregnant adolescents were systematically and permanently excluded from school, in accordance with a decree promulgated in 2017 by the then president, the autocrat John Magufuli, who described as“immoral” the behavior of these students. The stakes are high in a country where more than 20% of girls become pregnant before the age of 18. This is the case of Esther, expelled from her high school at the age of 17. She never got a second chance.

“My mother tried to beg the school officials to go back after I gave birth. They told her no because they couldn’t have a mother in the class and I would be a bad influence on others. students.”

Esther, daughter-in-law in Tanzania

to Human Rights Watch

The organization Human Rights Watch, which has collected several testimonies, has denounced this policy for years “inhuman” and its consequences. Tens of thousands of girls have been deprived of their right to education, according to the NGO. The exclusion of adolescent girls from the school system had also been widely criticized by international donors who had stopped their funding in the country.

This pressure has also paved the way for change. The death of President John Magufuli last March has sped things up. The new president, however from the same political party, is committed to defending fundamental freedoms. It was she who decided to lift the ban imposed on pregnant students or young mothers. She is supported by another woman, the Minister of Education.

“Pregnant students will be allowed to continue their education after childbirth (…) There is no time to waste.”

Joyce Ndalichako, Tanzanian Minister of Education

to AFP

Tanzania can now count on the help of international organizations to put in place a more inclusive education system. In March 2020, the World Bank approved a loan of $ 500 million for the program to improve the quality of secondary education, including alternative education pathways for teenage mothers. The country should mainly focus on educating young people to avoid abusive or unprotected sex.