Education Amendment Act of 2020 provides second chance to pregnant girls and adolescent mothers in Zimbabwe
The passing of the Education Amendment Act of 2020 with provisions on re-entry of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers to school was a huge success for the country and a positive step towards improving the life and access to education for the girl child for World Vision Zimbabwe.
A large number of girls drop out of school due to pregnancies and do not return even after giving birth for various reasons. This has resulted in an increased number of child marriage cases within the country as most girls see no other alternative than to get married after falling pregnant and giving birth. According to ZimStat 2019, 33.7% of girls were married before the age 18 which translates to 1 in every 3 girls. Further statistics show that during the Covid-19 period between 2020 & 2021, a total of 5000 girls were recorded as being pregnant within the districts of Zimbabwe and 3000 of these were recorded in March 2021 alone (Minister’s report from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, and Small to Medium Enterprise Development).
The background above highlights the situation that girls in Zimbabwe have for many years found themselves when encountered with a teenage pregnancy. World Vision Zimbabwe (WVZ), through its advocacy efforts, together with other like-minded organizations in 2019 participated in the policy consultations during the process of amending the Education Act and put forward petitions through the Education Coalition of Zimbabwe in a bid to improve the situation of pregnant girls. WVZ, as one of the gender cluster members engaged the Parliamentarian Portfolio Committee on Education towards the education system which excluded girls especially when they fell pregnant and even after they give birth. As such the policy amendment looked into issues of inclusion, that is, giving girls a second chance to education by allowing them to go back to school during pregnancy and after birth.
Through the Education TP, WVZ was awarded the Adolescent Mothers Education Initiative (AMEI) grant in 2022, which seeks to advance re-entry of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers (PGAM) in school. The project has enhanced support for adolescent mothers to go back to school by fostering positive mind-sets and removing stigma and discrimination for PGAM. Engagement with schools has also facilitated the roll out and implementation of the Education Act thereby creating environments that support the needs of PGAM, such as breastfeeding rooms and resting rooms for pregnant girls. In the period 2022 to 2023, 24 PGAM dropped out of school but 16 of them were admitted back in school, through the support from the project.
School awareness campaigns have also been used to promote change in behaviour and attitude among peers who would have fallen pregnant. Schools have also adopted the initiative hence they now conduct some follow-up engagements with parents and PGAM as they extend support to the home. The project has also established 31 champions (teachers & PGAM) who often work as peer educators and supporters for other PGAM within the communities. They interact with the school children, authorities and the community at large, raising awareness on the Education Act and the importance of re-entry of PGAM to school.
The project has conducted CVA community gatherings for 8 schools so far where communities have been educated on government minimum education functionality standards and actions developed are towards improvement of the school environment for the girls as well as building the capacity of community members to engage with local decision makers on issues affecting girls’ education. So far the project has submitted a Policy brief to the parliament committee on education and 2 girls have had the privilege to meet with decision makers at national level sharing their experiences as teenage mothers.