By Chioma Iruke
Tanzania has resolved to allow pregnant students and teenage mothers continue with their studies as the reversed a heavily-criticised policy instituted by its late autocratic leader, John Magufuli.
Recall in 2017, the East African country began expelling pregnant girls from state schools and banned them from returning to class after giving birth, in a crackdown slammed by rights campaigners.
Magufuli had vowed that no student who became pregnant would finish their studies under his watch, saying it was immoral for young girls to be sexually active.
“I give money for a student to study for free. And then, she gets pregnant, gives birth and after that, returns to school. No, not under my mandate,” he said in mid-2017.
The decision was widely criticised by human rights lobby groups and international donors, who cut their funding to the country in response to Magufuli’s policies.
At the time, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report saying school officials in Tanzania were conducting pregnancy tests in order to expel pregnant students, depriving them of their right to education.
The World Bank, one of the country’s higgest donors, froze a $300-million (265-million-euro) loan for girls’ education in protest against the ban.
Following Magufuli’s death earlier this year, his successor Samia Suluhu Hassan has sought to break away from some of his policies and on Wednesday, Education Minister Joyce Ndalichako said that “pregnant school girls will be allowed to continue with formal education after delivery.”
“I will issue a circular later today. No time to wait,” she said at a ceremony in the capital Dodoma.
