Number of pregnant finalists fewer than expected -MOE

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT  |  Surprisingly few female pregnant finalists returned to schools after the re-opening last year according to the ministry of education and sports.

Due to the high number of pregnancy cases recorded during the lockdown, ministry of education officials expected to have over 1,000 finalists in this state. However according to preliminary investigations, less than 200 finalists reported to education institutions when they were pregnant.

Angella Nansubuga, the head of the gender unit at the education ministry told URN that according to reports they have received, only few finalists were pregnant. She believes majority of those who are pregnant are not finalists.

” We got very few learners who were pregnant compared to what was reported before the re-opening of schools. In some districts like Kampala, the cases were so few,” she said.

During the lockdown, over 20,000 cases of pregnancy, involving school going children were reported in different districts, according to Raising Voices. The real number is however believed to be higher than this.

According to the education ministry, majority of the cases were reported in Eastern Uganda with districts such as Iganga ,Soroti and Yumbe in West Nile recording high numbers.

Unlike before when pregnant learners were shunned from schools, the education ministry last year worked on popularizing learning for pregnant students by allowing them to continue learning until they are three months pregnant.

In the fourth month of pregnancy, the learners are expected to leave the school for six months to have the baby. After, they are allowed to return to school. However, in spite of this policy, some schools in Kampala report the continue absence of learners who might be pregnant.

URN visited several primary and secondary schools around Kampala and discovered that secondary schools had the highest number of students who did not return because they were pregnant.

Hajat Zauja Ndifuna Matovu, the director of Mbogo High School located in Kawempe said they had only registered one case of a pregnant student.

“Since we re-opened last year, only three students didn’t return. Two of them were girls and the reports we have show that one of the girls was married off while the other was pregnant,” Ndifuna said.

At Mulago High School, three female learners have not yet returned. Hassan Gombe, the head teacher at the school says that even with the new government policy on pregnancy, most pregnant students would rather change schools than go back and mingle with their classmates.

“Their friends say they are pregnant but when we spoke to the parents, one of them told us they didn’t not have money while another one said they had changed schools but we are not surprised by this. Normally this is what happens when students become pregnant. Parents switch schools and take them elsewhere. They do not want to return to the same school,” he said.

Only one primary school that was visited within Kampala, East Kololo Primary school reported having had a pregnant finalist.

Ketty Wekwale, the headteacher of East Kololo Primary says all but one of their female candidates returned to the school.

“We have had one case of a pupil who did not return. When we asked her classmates, we were told that she had become pregnant and had changed schools,” Wekwale said.

Other schools that we visited like Kitante Hill School, Makeree College School, Kololo High School, Kitante Primary School,  Bat Valley Primary School and Buganda Road primary school all registered cases of both female and male students who did not return. However, they are not sure why. In total, 30 learners did not return to these schools.

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URN