By Aruna Turay
The New Direction led government of Sierra Leone has scored what many people have described as “another political goal” by given a second chance to pregnant school pupils to continue their education during and after pregnancy. According to the new policy, pregnant school girls can now write the school examinations while pregnant and can also return to school after delivery.
It can be recalled that in 2018, Sierra Leone implemented a ban preventing pregnant students from attending school or sitting for exams. The policy was intended to protect “innocent girls” from the alleged influence of “bad” pregnant students.
The government also argued that pregnant students would be exhausted by the workload of normal classes and exposed to emotional stress and derision if they attended school as usual. Activists decried the policy, which stops many girls from finishing their education.
