This article was originally published on Ebola Deeply.
By Cinnatus Dumbaya
Visibly pregnant girls and young mothers will be excluded from completing their education when schools reopen in Sierra Leone later this month, according to a new ruling announced by the Ministry of Education last week.
Dr. Minkailu Bah, Minister of Education, Science and Technology said “[pregnant girls'] presence in the classroom would serve as a negative influence to other innocent girls."
Human rights groups have slammed the move, which specifies that pregnant girls and young mothers cannot sit the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE)—essentially barring them from graduating from high school or continuing on to university.
In a statement, the Sierra Leone Human Rights Commission said the policy "discriminates against women and girls, and this pattern of stigmatizing would only worsen their … vulnerability."
Sixteen-year-old high school student Kadiatu Kamara fell pregnant at the height of the Ebola outbreak.
"When I was going to school I had a lot to do to engage my mind, including school assignments," she said. "But this long holiday due to Ebola distracted me, and got me into this situation."
Kamara added that even though she would like to go back to school with her classmates, she would be afraid of how they might react to her.
"I'm too shy to stand their provocations," she said.
But now Kamara, and thousands like her, have no choice; their access to education has been barred twice—first by Ebola, and now by the new ruling.
Even before the Ebola outbreak began, teenage pregnancy—alongside early marriage, financial hardship, and the onset of menstruation (for girls attending schools without latrines)—was a major reason why fewer girls than boys attended high school in Sierra Leone. According to a UNICEF 2014 report, 33 percent of girls and 40 percent of boys were in secondary education from 2008 to 2012.
There is not yet any reliable data on the rate of teenage pregnancy during the Ebola outbreak, but NGOs and UN agencies—as well as Sierra Leone's First Lady, Sia Koroma—have spoken out about a rise in cases.
And according to the Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone police, more than 2,000 cases of sexual abuse against children were recorded in 2014—a record high. Many more cases have likely gone unreported.
It is unknown how many teenage pregnancies are linked to sexual abuse, but the Ebola outbreak thrust many families into financial hardship and stripped many breadwinners of their jobs and sense of worth. Girls became particularly vulnerable to acts of aggression and frustration.
Ugochi Daniels, head of humanitarian response for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) told Ebola Deeply that the Ebola outbreak created "an environment that is particularly ripe for issues such as teenage pregnancy, especially when where access to family planning is reduced … it's also an environment that’s inductive for sexual exploitation."
Forced prostitution and financial reliance on early marriage are also key factors that are likely to have contributed to the cluster of recent teenage pregnancies.
Betty Milton, a prominent journalist in Sierra Leone, said it is unfair for authorities to point fingers at pregnant girls.
"There are lots of factors responsible for their predicament, including the Ebola outbreak that has taken most of these girls out of school and left them vulnerable in the communities," she said. "The policy is discriminatory and will not help in any way, but will worsen the high illiteracy rate in the country."
Rather than aportioning blame, Milton says measures should be put in place to allow pregnant girls to continue with their education. These could include access to special exam centers outside of schools and colleges.
However, Abdul Koroma, a secondary school teacher at a girls' school in Freetown, agrees with the ruling.
"As a teacher who has been teaching and supervising girls for over a decade now, I wholeheartedly support the decision of the ministry in this," he said. "Children are easily influenced by their peers. If these pregnant girls are allowed into the school environment, other girls will think it’s normal to get pregnant while still in school. Other means could be used to get these girls [in education] but they should not mix with other young girls."
On Friday, the government announced that high schools would not reopen until April 14, three weeks later than planned.
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Cinnatus Dumbaya is a contributor to Ebola Deeply.
[Photo courtesy of Ebola Deeply]