Pregnant school girls in class: what to expect

Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWE recently amended the Education Act to allow pregnant learners to return to class until they give birth, a contentious issue that has been met with criticism bordering on issues of morality, adaptability and general feasibility of allowing the girls to be in a school set up.

Sunday News spoke to a seasoned teacher of 25 years from a local girl’s school in Bulawayo, Mr Thabani Moyo and a trained midwife Mrs Joy Ndlovu who shared their sentiments on the pros and cons of the new regulations.
Mr Moyo unpacked the new amendment to his understanding.

“The Education Amendment Act of 2020 speaks about pregnant girls and it has brought about some changes, it now hinders or stops institutions from sending pregnant girls away from school. Those girls are supposed to attend lessons like another learner and when the time comes for them to give birth, two weeks before, they go on maternity leave and two weeks after giving birth they come back to school and continue their lessons,” he said.

Mr Moyo lamented that in the past, when institutions sent girls home, they in a way deprived them of an education but the new thrust in the new curriculum would see girls retained in schools with no hindrances.

He, however, noted challenges in blending pregnant girls with those who are not.

“There is going to be a challenge but if everything is well taken care of, the other learners have to be educated that there is nothing abnormal with someone getting pregnant, it is natural in women but it is not all learners that are going to accept that they are learning with someone who is pregnant. There are so many stories that have been told in schools that they cause them to sleep, this shows there is still stigma associated with pregnant learners.

It will be a task and the ministry must come up with a programme to sensitise learners to be friendly to those that are pregnant because they are going to be labelled,” said Mr Moyo.

Asked on whether the school girls would cope with the learning process effectively, Mrs Ndlovu said it was possible although challenges were inevitable.

“It is possible and it depends on the environment that they are in, other learners must not judge the pregnant ones and must make them comfortable. There are challenges that also come with pregnancy but that person is not sick, they are functional. There are mood swings and there is so much progesterone in one’s body so it would make them want to sleep in class, they become lazy and it can affect that child,” she said.

“As the tummy grows bigger there is a lot of discomfort accompanied by the weight gain.”

Modern local schools have high rise buildings which could be a challenge to the learners.

“There are storey buildings, small desks and small chairs and as the tummy grows bigger it brings discomfort. As they sit for double lessons in class where they sit for an hour or so they may not manage as it gets very uncomfortable.”

She said children living in rural set-ups have the unique challenge of having to walk long distances to access schools while pregnant.

“Girls on the outskirts have to walk long kilometres to get to school and will actually be a hindrance to them such that they get to school very tired,” said Mrs Ndlovu.

She, however, said the younger girls were particularly not well developed to carry pregnancies.

“Physically they will not be well developed, as pregnancies come with a lot of challenges, that weight gain and their pelvic bone is not yet fully developed. They may be menstruating but that does not mark optimum maturity for child birth, they may not be able to carry a pregnancy up to term and that is where we get some miscarriages although some manage to carry to term,” she added.

Asked on what measures the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education had put in place to capacitate teachers to manage pregnant learners, Mr Moyo said there was work that needed to be done.

“When this amendment was passed, some teachers actually made jokes out of it saying during teacher training, they also needed to train in midwifery and people laughed about it. I don’t remember during my years in teaching where we were trained on pregnant learners. It is something new, it is now a challenge to the ministry to come up with workshops to equip teachers to deal with learners,” he said.

Mr Moyo, however, said admitting pregnant girls in schools brings with it various challenges on the administration part as it is a new thing.

“People think because if one is pregnant, they are not sick and don’t have complications but that varies from one individual to another, you can imagine you have a learner and the pregnancy is always complicating, it will give you many problems.

The administration and ministry must come up with an arrangement that even at school there are facilities that can take care of these girls. What we have currently are sick bays where learners who are not feeling well can go and wait for their parents to pick them up,” he said.