At least 1,907 teenage mothers resume classes

A TOTAL of 1,907 teenage mothers have resumed classes by January 2023, Deputy Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Omar Kipanga told the National Assembly on Wednesday.

The deputy minister said that, the figures were registered since the government announced to lift a ban on teenage mothers for them to continue with their education.

Moreover, he said, as they resume their secondary school classes, the girls have been going through childhood education for teen mothers.

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He was responding to a question by Ms Tunza Malapo (Special Seats-Chadema) on the number of teen mothers who have resumed their studies since the President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted the ban in 2021.

He said out of the 1,907, of those who resumed classes in formal education system are 562, while 1,345 have resumed in the informal system under Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQUIP).

World Bank funded SEQUIP through the Institute of Adult Education IAE is intended to reach a total of 12,000 girls, who had dropped out of secondary schools due to early pregnancies and provide them with a second chance to pursue formal education.

The four years project run through the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project- Alternative Education Pathway (SEQUIP-AEP).

According to the deputy minister, the girls will be enrolled in batches for four years, with the first batch of 3000 dropouts but the response has been positive and 3,118 were registered according to IAE Director cum Rector, Dr Michael Ng’umbi.

He said that IAE will continuously design, develop and deliver accessible quality life-long education programmes through blended learning for sustainable social-economic development.

The deputy minister said his ministry in collaboration with the regional administration and local government is going on to collect data on the number of primary and secondary school dropout students who enrolled back.

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