Prohibition of pregnant girls in school disrupts the lives of thousands in Tanzania-Human Rights Watch

 

Tanzania's ban on students and teenage pregnant girls attending school has deprived tens of thousands of girls of their right to education, Human Rights Watch said.

Public schools across mainland Tanzania conduct mandatory pregnancy tests for female students and expel pregnant girls before completing their studies.

The Tanzanian government has not issued a statement on the report. Government spokesman Gerson Msigwa directed the BBC to contact Education Minister Professor Joyce Ndalichako about the matter.

Since June 2017, the late President John Magufuli and his successor, President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office in March 2021, have imposed a formal ban on students who are pregnant or mothers.

"Tanzanian girls suffer because the government implements this policy which ends their education, degrades and excludes them, and destroys their future," said Elin Martinez, a senior child rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The government should urgently abolish this inhumane policy and allow pregnant students and mothers to return to school."

Human Rights Watch in July and August interviewed 30 girls and women between the ages of 16 and 24. They had all been expelled from school or dropped out of primary or secondary school between 2013 and 2021 because they were pregnant.

In June this year the Government of Tanzania announced that it would allow students who dropped out of school due to pregnancy to return to study through community development colleges.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Leonard Akwilapo called on the heads of community development colleges to ensure that female students who fail to continue their studies due to various reasons including pregnancy return and continue their studies.

He urged the principals to implement the order to admit the students through the education program by 2022.

As well as calling on all public development colleges to be registered as examination centers for Form Two and Form Four, he said the move to reinstate female students who dropped out of school stemmed from the ministry's long-running talks with the World Bank.