Ban on education for pregnant girls and young mothers in Sierra Leone revoked

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.

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.

Comments

Cait's Plate: Conwell Coffee Hall...Can we just toast to this aesthetic toast?

Conwell Coffee Hall, located at 6 Hanover Street, is a coffee shop and eatery in Life and Trust, a performing arts center. photo credit: Cait Malilay From the moment I walked through the revolving door and up those steps, I was immersed back in time to the 1920s. I was greeted by a large art deco painting. photo credit: Cait Malilay I take a look at the menu and see the typical cafe assortment of coffee and teas, but wait...there's a whole section labeled "TOASTS?" Count me in! Being a California native, of course I'm going to order the avocado toast. My mom orders the crab toast. Now...the beverage of choice. Since it's afternoon, we decide to go with something light, a cappuccino. We are given a number and to our left, we see the seating area. In the back there's leather couches and coffee tables. Spread out are rows of tables, so we see that we are going to be sitting pretty close knit with other groups. When we're trying to find a spot to sit, a ge...

ROCKLAND COUNTY TIMES: JLK Salon senior stylist shares tips on how to keep your hair fresh and radiant throughout the summer season

photo credit: Valeria Maddalena Instagran / @hair_by_vale We may be a little over a month into the summer season, but it’s never too late to revitalize your hair with a new style. Valeria Maddalena , a senior stylist at JLK Salon in New City of over nine years, shared with The Rockland County Times some of her favorite hair colors and care tips to keep in mind. Read full article here.

Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy (Part I) Review: Knowledge leads to power, but not necessarily justice

photo credit: Cait Malilay "Though hundreds of thousands had done their very best to disfigure the small piece of land on which they were crowded together, by paving the ground with stones, scraping away every vestige of vegetation, cutting down the trees, turning away birds and beasts, and filling the air with the smoke of naphtha and coal, still spring was spring, even in the town." - (Tolstoy 5) "Resurrection" was Leo Tolstoy's last written novel published in 1899. Told in the third person perspective, the book centers on a nobleman named Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov, whose values are tested when he by chance reconnects with someone from his past, someone he once loved and betrayed. The book's first chapter has strong similarities to that of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" with its opening passages of a prison and society focused on the fate of a fallen woman. We are introduced to Maslova, also known as "Katusha," who i...

Type Away Cait

Search This Blog