ZAMBIA: More girls in school thanks to policy reforms
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More Zambian girls, who dropped out of school have resumed classes |
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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