Rights group lauds Sierra Leone's decision to allow pregnant girls or mothers to attend school
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) – Human Rights Watch has lauded the decision of the Sierra Leone government to allow girls who are pregnant or have a child to attend school as an important step to improve education for girls in the country.
This follows a 30 March announcement by President Julius Maada Bio and Education Minister David Moinina Sengeh of the immediate end to the school ban against pregnant girls and teenage mothers in place since 2010.
“By ending the 10-year ban against pregnant girls and teenage mothers attending school, the Sierra Leone government is finally addressing a longstanding injustice,” said Elin Martinz, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “This measure gives every girl the chance to achieve her full potential and succeed in getting her education.”
Human Rights Watch noted that Sierra Leone was among a handful of countries in Africa that explicitly banned girls who became pregnant or are mothers from its schools.
In December 2019, in a case brought by a coalition of Sierra Leonean and international groups, the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ruled that the ban was discriminatory and ordered the government to revoke it, Human Rights Watch noted.
The court also found that alternative schools for pregnant students, a largely donor-funded government programme, was also discriminatory.
Human Rights Watch noted that teenage pregnancy is endemic in Sierra Leone. Thirty-six percent of all pregnancies occur among adolescent girls. Only 38 percent of girls are enrolled in secondary schools.
In late 2018, Sierra Leone’s first lady, Fatima Bio, opened a national campaign “Hands Off Our Girls.”
Her campaign focused on reducing child marriages and teenage pregnancies in the country, in part to tackle the spike in teenage pregnancies following widespread rape during the Ebola crisis.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement that following the decision, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) will lead a collaborative and consultative process to develop a comprehensive policy setting out its vision of “radical inclusion” and “comprehensive safety,” in which “all children are encouraged and supported to realize their right to universal education, without discrimination.”
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