Last month, the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture issued a new policy which reversed the government regulation which required pregnant girls to be automatically expelled from school.

Instead, the Ministry granted female learners who got pregnant three month’s leave, after which she could resume her studies. A male student responsible for pregnancy would be given paternity leave for the same period.

But a circular issued by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary reverses all of that. Once again, pregnant schoolgirls and prospective fathers will be punished.

According to the circular: “The law provides for the exclusion of a learner who falls pregnant, and expulsion of a learner responsible for it.”  After consultations between the school and parents or guardians, a girl could be readmitted to school three months after a baby’s birth at the grade or form she had been in before she had the baby. However, the boy responsible for the pregnancy would be considered for admission at another school, and only after a period of 12 months. “It should be noted that re-admission of the boy learner is not automatic, as approval would have to be sought and granted from the ministry of education before re-admission in any other formal school,” the circular said.

Join the debate!

Protest the renewed discrimination against learners who are also prospective parents. Email your views to the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture on moesaczw [at] gmail [dot] com

Disagree? Think pregnant students should be punished, not supported? Share your feedback on this issue with us – comment below or email info [at] kubatana [dot] net

This entry was posted on September 16th, 2010 at 1:14 pm by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Women's issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.