October 21, 2015 By Ibrahim Tarawallie
Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology yesterday stated that about 50% to 60% of girls that are currently pregnant are those who do not want to be in the school system.
According to Brima Michael Turay, the teenage girls have no business being pregnant if they were serious about staying in school to acquire quality education.
He revealed that the ministry has recorded a total of 3,017 pregnant school girls across the country over the past nine to ten months.
He revealed though that the ministry has decided to establish learning centres across the country which should be operational next week to provide parenting skills, individual living skills and tuition for these girls.
“We are not looking at reasons why they are pregnant but we want them to go to one of these centres to learn parenting skills, individual living skills, and also [provide them] tuition so that by the time they deliver they will be ripe enough to go back to school,” he said.
Mr. Turay added that their ability to adjust to what is happening in the learning centres would largely be determined by the time they get back to their various schools.
He further revealed that 30 pregnant girls would be enrolled in each centre, with some 1,000 teachers hired to provide teaching services to them, adding that all heads of schools have been told to allow the girls back to school when they decide to return.
“We are not punishing them but providing a service for them to be prepared to get back to school after delivery. They are not going to reside in these centres,” Mr. Turay said.
There was huge public outcry from the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRC-SL) and civil society organisations after the Education Ministry imposed the policy to ban pregnant girls from taking public exams.