The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
CHILD marriages, early unintended pregnancies, and school dropouts have been a cancer that has attacked many communities and seen many young girls missing out on important milestones in their lives as a result of these setbacks.
Efforts have been made to try to find a panacea to this problem but more still needs to be done to close the tap on these occurrences.
About 5 000 schoolgirls countrywide fell pregnant during the Covid-19 lockdown and had to drop out of school.
It is, however, not known how many managed to return to school after giving birth.
The Government announced then that pregnant learners would be allowed to continue with their education and be given time to go and give birth and resume their studies.
Before, pregnant learners would be expelled from classes and fail to complete their studies while the males who were sometimes responsible for the pregnancies were allowed to continue with schooling.
This brought relief to many young girls whose future seemed bleak after falling pregnant while in school.
However, the time has come to ensure that no child falls pregnant prematurely by making sure that young girls are supported with the necessary resources to keep them in school.
Ms Memory Sibanda, Project Coordinator of the Adolescent Mothers Education Initiative Project (AMEI) under World Vision gave an insight into what the project is about and how they want to bring everyone on board to ensure no girl drops out of school.
The project is being implemented in Nkayi District in Matabeleland North Province as it was identified as one of the marginalised districts with marginalised girls who were out of school.
“This is a project that aims to ensure that all pregnant girls and adolescent mothers have access to education as clearly stated by the Constitution that every child has the right to education. Section 75 mandates the Government to ensure that every citizen who is poor or rich, black or white, partly abled or not, female or male accesses affordable and quality education. It clearly states that education is a fundamental human right,” said Ms Sibanda.
She highlighted that pregnant girls and adolescent mothers have the right to education and educating them is an investment as issues raised in Nkayi inform programming for the rest of the country.
“The voices of the communities are escalated to national level and media plays a very crucial role in terms of advocacy work as it has to inform the public on the right to education for pregnant girls and adolescent mothers and create education awareness policies that support the continued education of these girls,” she added.
The AMEI project in Zimbabwe was designed soon after the Covid-19 pandemic following the realisation that several girls fell pregnant and were not able to return to school due to a number of barriers.
In 2020, one million girls were out of school globally.
The Unesco Report in 2018 indicated that Zimbabwe had over 6 000 teenage pregnancies and these girls dropped out of school and were unable to return to school soon after the Covid-19 era.
Sub-Saharan Africa was highlighted to be the home of more girls who are out of school who also give birth before their 18th birthday.
“Zimbabwe Education Statistics Annual Report for 2019 also indicated that 34 percent of the girls dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancies and early marriages. This is not a Nkayi issue, but a national and global issue,” said Ms Sibanda.
Only eight most affected schools in Nkayi District were identified for the AMEI programme as there were limitations in funding. The information is, however, being cascaded to the rest of the district and provinces.
Ms Sibanda explained the key drivers of teenage pregnancies at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Schools were closed and girls were idle and they got pregnant. Poverty is another driver, when a family fails to provide for their children, these girls engage in sexual activities. We also expect on the other hand for learners to get sexual reproductive health information through their guidance and counselling lessons but what we are learning now is that guidance and counselling has not been effectively implemented in schools due to several reasons. Teachers are not capacitated enough to deliver the lessons. Some teachers last did the lessons during their college days,” said Ms Sibanda.
She said schools also lack resources to deliver lessons and do not have a syllabus to follow or books to use despite Government policy to deliver guidance and counselling lessons once a week.
Ms Sibanda noted that guidance and counselling is not treated seriously because it is not an examinable subject despite the laxity.
She also noted that some teenage pregnancies go unreported and are swept under the carpet due to fear of victimisation. The few that are reported are not treated with due diligence as perpetrators quickly find themselves back in the village where they were having sexual intercourse with under-age girls.
This then discourages communities to continue reporting cases.
According to the National Aids Council (NAC), at Nhlambabaloyi Secondary School, Umguza District in Matabeleland North Province, about 30 girls who fell pregnant during the lockdown had to drop out of school in September 2021.
Child marriages have ruined the future of many children in Nkayi with Chief Sikhobokhobo calling on traditional leaders to play a leading role in restoring the moral fabric.
“Child marriages are a cancer; we need as traditional leaders to work with the police to ensure that they are nipped in the bud. When you find a pregnant child, in many cases the perpetrator comes to marry the child. But what of the child? Since we had Covid-19, this phenomenon has not stopped; they are still falling pregnant. This affects the child so much and if I as a Chief do not act on these issues, I will be found in the wrong for not ensuring this practice stops,” he said.
Girl Talk Zimbabwe, a non-profit organisation that is aimed at improving health rights for young girls launched a pad drive in Bulawayo in a bid to eradicate period poverty.
Period poverty is a global issue affecting those who do not have access to safe, hygienic menstrual products they need and or who are unable to manage their periods with dignity, sometimes due to community stigma.
The organisation highlighted that a majority of young girls can barely afford to buy a pack of sanitary pads leading to them missing school for the duration of their period. Girls Talk said their main target is for girls in school not to miss any lectures and school appointments due to a lack of sanitary wear.
The AMEI project seeks, moving forward, to address some of the many barriers to education for girls after falling pregnant.
“After giving birth, the biggest worry for the girl is who will fend for the child when she returns to school. Where will finances for milk formula or nappies come from. These girls then face discrimination in communities or even at school and churches which makes them shy away from returning to school and that is what we do not want to happen. We want them to reintegrate completely with society,” said Ms Sibanda.
In a bid to ensure the affected girls return to school with no challenges, the AMEI project is engaged in sensitisation programmes as they argue that lack of support is due to ignorance, especially at the household level. The implementers said some parents do not know that children who have fallen pregnant are allowed to return to school as it is their right. School authorities and community service providers are also sensitised together with traditional leaders on the importance of ensuring girls are kept in school despite the unfortunate cases of early and unintended pregnancies.
“We are capacitating the adolescent girls and pregnant mothers themselves on child protection and their right to education so that they can denounce cases of violence. At the community level, its mainly on sensitisation. We have a social advocacy methodology that promotes dialogue between service users and service providers. The essence is to improve service,” Ms Sibanda added.
She said their biggest thrust is to see all stakeholders coming together to support the continued education of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers and to have a positive attitude toward the matter. — @NyembeziMu.
