Tanzania urged to scrap ban on pregnant students

The campaign group Human Rights Watch has called on the Tanzanian government to reverse its ban on pregnant students and adolescent mothers attending school – describing it as discriminatory and inhumane.

The policy was imposed four years ago by former President John Magufuli and is still in place under the leadership of Tanzania’s first female President, Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Human Rights Watch says the compulsory testing and expulsion of pregnant students has denied tens of thousands of girls their right to education.

The government says a parallel accelerated education programme – which is to receive funding from the World Bank – allows the expelled students to continue learning.

Human Rights Watch said most girls and women it had interviewed had not enrolled in training programmes or alternative education centres. BBC News