Chronicle Editor
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
NKAYI District is recording a reduction in early and unintended pregnancies while it has recorded positives in its drive to reintegrate girls back into school after having fallen pregnant during the Covid-19 era.
The district is one of the areas in Matabeleland North Province and the country that was hard hit by teenage pregnancies when the country was under lockdown.
The district has eight schools that are undergoing the Adolescent Mothers Education Initiative Project (AMEI) under World Vision which seeks to empower affected girls and reintegrate them into the school system to continue with their education.
The district’s remedial tutor in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Mr Amos Sibanda said the affected learners have started returning to school.
“So far all the eight secondary schools are now reintegrating the girls into the schools. Earlier on, some were shunning them and did not want to take back the girls. Even parents were resisting bringing back their children to school for fear of the stigma. Some were saying there is no benefit of sending someone’s wife to school but through campaigns and sensitisation, slowly, the girls are now coming back to school. Almost all the eight schools have adolescent mothers,” said Mr Sibanda.
The groups that were sensitised included the traditional leadership, heads of schools, community health workers, teachers and adolescent mothers too.
“We sensitised the girls because most of them also did not want to go back to school too. They were scared of what other learners and teachers would say about them being pregnant or being mothers. However, we managed to talk to them. Child Protection Committees were also resuscitated so that they could assist in sensitising the girls and the information also cascades to other community members,” he added.
During the campaigns, the ministry said they were using education policies to re-enrol learners and to also avail them to the target populations so that they see that their actions were guided by policies.
“We used the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Education Act No15 of 2020 Chapter 25, and in whatever we do, we do it in the best interest of the child. We also used the Secretaries Circular No 35 of 2023 on discipline, it talks about handling such cases and it guides parents, teachers and school administrators on how to handle issues about children in schools. We unpacked that circular to them so that these girls know that they still had a right to go back to school,” said Mr Sibanda.
He highlighted that learners, even after falling pregnant, need continuous guidance and counselling together with their peers to safeguard them from harassment and bullying from others.
He said information on the reintegration of the adolescent mothers was cascading to all schools and they were all in compliance with the policy.
“We also urge teachers to ensure that they offer catch-up lessons to learners who will have missed school after falling pregnant for them to be at the same level as their peers in terms of the school curriculum,” he said. @NyembeziMu
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