John Magufuli of Tanzania swore that no pregnant student would complete his studies (Representative)
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:
Tanzania on Wednesday said it would allow pregnant students and teenage mothers to continue their studies, reversing a heavily criticized policy led by the late autocratic leader John Magufuli offered.
In 2017, the East African nation began expelling pregnant female students from state schools and barring them from returning to classes after giving birth, in a crackdown assaulted by human rights campaigners. labour.
Following Magufuli’s death earlier this year, his successor Samia Suluhu Hassan has sought to distance himself from some of his policies and on Wednesday Education Minister Joyce Ndalichako said that “pregnant schoolgirls will be allowed to continue to study officially after birth.”
“I will issue a circular later today. There is no time to wait,” she said at a ceremony in the capital, Dodoma.
Magufuli swore that no pregnant student would complete their studies under his supervision, saying it was immoral for young girls to be sexually active.
“I give money to a student to study for free. Then she got pregnant, gave birth and then went back to school. No, not on my duty,” he said in mid-2017.
The decision was widely criticized by human rights lobby groups and international donors, who cut their funding to the country in response to Magufuli’s policies.
At the time, Human Rights Watch released a report that said school officials in Tanzania were conducting pregnancy tests to expel pregnant students, stripping them of their right to attend school. .
‘Welcome step’
The World Bank, which froze a $300 million loan for girls’ education in protest of the ban, praised Wednesday’s decision.
“The World Bank welcomes the Tanzanian government’s announcement to remove barriers to education access,” it said in a statement.
The Swedish embassy in Dar es Salaam, which cut funding to Tanzania last year citing dwindling freedoms, also welcomed the move.
“This is a welcome step for many girls, allowing them to reach their full potential,” the embassy said on Twitter.
The opposition Coalition for Change and Transparency (ACT Wazalendo) says its attempt to reverse the policy has been successful.
“We made it! A clear example of a struggle, on many fronts. Everyone involved did something to achieve this,” ACT leader Wazalendo, Zitto Kabwe, said.
Covid skeptic Magufuli, nicknamed “The Bulldozer” for his uncompromising leadership style, died of heart disease on March 17 after a mysterious three-week absence. His political opponents insist he has coronavirus.
In the weeks after she was sworn in, her successor Hassan contacted Tanzania’s political opposition, vowed to defend democracy and fundamental freedoms and reopen the media. communication is prohibited.
But hopes that Hassan would usher in a new era were dashed after the arrest of a senior opposition leader on terrorism charges and a crackdown on independent newspapers.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
