The lift on the ban of education for pregnant girls and young mothers in Sierra Leone was immediately put into effect, President Julius Maada Bio and Education Minister David Moinina Sengeh announced on Monday.
The ban was first put into place in 2010.
Among the seven continents, Africa has the highest teenage pregnancy rates, according to the United Nations.
“The Sierra Leone government should accompany this announcement with clear directives for school officials to accept, include, and support pregnant students and teen mothers in schools,” said Elin Martinez, a senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It should also broadcast messages of inclusion nationally, and work with communities to ensure that girls, their families, teachers, and community leaders know that all girls belong in school."
The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States ruled that the ban was discriminatory and ordered the country's government to dismantle it in a case brought by a coalition of Sierra Leonean and international groups in December 2019, according to a Human Rights Watch press release.
In late 2018 Sierra Leone's first lady, Fatima Bio launched "Hands Off Our Girls," a national campaign that focuses on childhood marriage and teenage pregnancies amid widespread rape during the Ebola crisis.
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| Photo Credit: Unicef Sierra Leone / Facebook |
Statistics show that in Sierra Leone, 36.4 percent of girls gave birth before the age of 18, 9.7 percent of which was younger than 15.
Between 2006 and 2017, 39 percent of children were married by the age of 18 in this west African country.
The highest childhood marriage rate in the African continent was a staggering 76 percent in Niger.
The reverse in this decade-long ban is a step further in gender equality.
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