Gov’t Outs Guidelines on Pregnant School Girls

The Education and Sports Ministry has drafted guidelines to help thousands of girls impregnated during the prolonged lockdown to stay in school and complete their studies. Different reports show that thousands of school girls have been defiled and impregnated in the nationwide lockdown imposed by the government in March this year to contain the spread of COVID-19. 

The Ministry has registered more than 100,000 cases of girls who were impregnated in the lockdown. To address the problem, the Ministry of Education has drafted guidelines for the management of pregnant girls\mothers to help them stay in school. The acting Gender Advisor in the Ministry of Education, Rosette Nanyanzi presented the guidelines in a meeting with UNICEF officials at Golf Court Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday.

According to the guidelines, school administrators are required to keep in touch with the pregnant girls to monitor their well being and provide the necessary emotional, moral and spiritual support. The schools will also be expected to keep the records of whoever is responsible for the pregnancy for easy tracking when the need arises. 

If the boy is in the same school with the girl, he will have to leave and only return once she has delivered. The girls will also be expected to stay away from school and return after delivering. The school management will also be required to identify a trained counsellor to counsel the girl including discussing with her the guidelines for retention or continuation of school and re-entry after delivery. 

The head teacher and other staff members will be required to handle the cases professionally in collaboration with the girl’s family to provide social support. Nanyanzi says schools will be required to conduct sexuality education and teach life skills using age-appropriate messages as defined in the national sexuality education framework.

She called for community and government involvement to ultimately empower girls, their families and community members. She also called on media platforms to include the issue of teenage pregnancies in their agenda and push for its total elimination. “When you people start blowing that trumpet, our teachers will wake up and help fight the vice,” she said.