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Today In History |
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On September 9, 1908
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Russia takes part of Poland
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More girls in school thanks to policy reforms |
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LUSAKA, 7 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - More Zambian girls are attending school
after government interventions such as allowing teenage mothers back to
school and waiving fees and uniforms.
Re-admission in many
schools has doubled since the Ministry of Education introduced the
re-entry policy prohibiting the expulsion of pregnant girls in 1997,
according to official statistics.
The policy requires girls to
go back to school not later than a year after giving birth, while other
interventions have also increased the enrolment rate.
Duniya Ngulube, 15, who lives in Chongwe, a rural district 50 km east
of the capital, Lusaka, left school when she fell pregnant while in
Grade 7 in 2003 and thought her dreams of becoming a teacher were
shattered. She is now in Grade 9.
Although her mother, a single parent, finds it difficult to support her daughter and her 22-month-old baby, she is persevering.
Ngulube
said, "It is difficult to be both a parent and student because
sometimes you lose concentration. When she [her baby] was
breast-feeding, my school work was being disturbed."
"But now she has stopped breast-feeding, so I can concentrate on school," she added.
Her
classmate, Bwalya Mpundu, 17, wants to become a journalist. Mpundu fell
pregnant in grade 7 in 2002, but her parents encouraged her to continue
her schooling.
"We realise the mistake we made and work hard at
school," she said. "We also advise our friends not to make the same
mistake. Our friends are receptive and encourage us."
The
policy has boosted the country's plans to reduce gender disparity in
accessing education. "This has benefited the girl-child and the rural
school-going pupils in a lot of ways, because they are being given a
second chance to improve their lives, and also the nation as a whole,"
said Lillian Kapulu, permanent secretary of the education department.
Imelda
Katukula, principal of the Chongwe Basic School, commented, "We used to
have few pupils, but now we are running into 70 per class. Enrolment
has almost doubled, that is why we are saying the school should be
expanded."
"Attendance is very good because they have learnt a
lesson - these are mistakes [falling pregnant] that kids make, but when
they come back they are serious and they excel," she added.
According
to Katukula, the majority of pupils who left school because of
pregnancy had returned and were performing well. They did not suffer
prejudice "because we always talk to pupils about the re-entry policy".
In
its efforts to improve universal access to education, the education
department's decision to allow pupils who could not afford school fees
or uniforms to continue their education has also paid off.
Enrolment
at Katenda Basic School in Kasempa, a remote town in Northwestern
province, has risen by between 40 percent and 50 percent.
"We
appreciate what the government has done - you know it is difficult in
villages for parents to find money for school fees and uniforms," said
Emmanuel Mulenga, acting principal of the school.
Jennifer Moyo,
a widow and a small-scale farmer, said the policy had made it possible
for her to send her three children to school.
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