Alternative Africa

Top Menu

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

logo

Alternative Africa

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
  • Antibiotics made from Cannabis could be available within five years-UK Neurologist

  • COVAX to pay compensation for any harmful side effects of covid vaccine

  • China donates 200,000 doses of China-made vaccine Sinopharm to Sierra Leone

  • Scientists discover the fossil of 66-million years old Coelacanth fish in Morocco

  • Morocco receives additional one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines as vaccination nears 3m

AfricaNews Now
Home›Africa›Women charity drags Tanzania to African court over ban on pregnant school girls

Women charity drags Tanzania to African court over ban on pregnant school girls

By alternativeafrica
November 21, 2020
198
0
Share:

London, Nov. 21, 2020 (AltAfrica)-A Tanzanian law that bans pregnant girls and teenage mothers from attending school is being challenged in Africa’s top rights court by an international women’s charity, which said the “discriminatory” rule trapped girls in poverty.

Women charity, Equality said it had filed a joint petition against Tanzanian government with a local partner at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights against the ban on pregnant girls attending school after years of campaigning unsuccessfully for the ban to be lifted.

Equality Now said it had filed a joint petition with a local partner at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights against the Tanzanian government on Thursday after years of campaigning unsuccessfully for the ban to be lifted.

“We have advocated for more than three years for the government of Tanzania to lift the ban on pregnant girls and adolescent mothers accessing school but without success,” Equality Now’s Africa director, Faiza Mohamed, in a statement.

“The African Court is our last resort and we are hopeful that the voices of these girls – many of whom are victims of sexual violence or coercion – will finally be heard.”

Tanzania President John Magufuli just won a controversial second term election

The Thomson Reuters Foundation was unable to reach Tanzania’s government spokesman to comment on the filing.

A year ago, Equality Now and its local partners won a similar case against Sierra Leone over a ban on pregnant students in West Africa’s highest court, the ECOWAS Court of Justice.

The court ruled that the policy was discriminatory and Sierra Leone repealed the ban in March this year.

Preventing pregnant girls and adolescent mothers from attending school denies them access to education and keeps many trapped in a cycle of poverty, the charity said, adding that the ban largely affected girls from impoverished families.

This, in turn, exposes them to violations including child and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and sexual and labour exploitation, it added.

Tanzania has one of the world’s highest teen pregnancy rates. About 27% of girls aged 15-19 are pregnant, the United Nations says, as widespread sexual abuse and poverty forces many girls to exchange sex for school fees, food and shelter.

The east African nation’s policy of expelling pregnant girls from primary and secondary school dates back to 1961, but expulsions have increased in recent years – largely due to public endorsement by President John Magufuli, campaigners said.

Magufuli, who was re-elected for a second term in October, has voiced support for the ban in the past, saying the “immoral behaviour” of pregnant girls should not be allowed to permeate the country’s schools.

Gabrielle, 17, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, was expelled from school when she got pregnant two years ago.

“Life was hard for my siblings and I growing up. My mother struggled to make ends meet and we would often go to bed without a meal,” she was quoted as saying by Equality Now.

“When I was 15, I met a man who was about 26-years old. He would buy me many different things including personal effects and when he started demanding for sex, I gave in. I got pregnant in the same year.”

There is no accurate data on the number of girls in Tanzania who have been affected by the ban, but women’s rights groups estimate that thousands of female students are forced out of education every year.

SHARE ON:
TagsBan on Pregnant School GirlsCourt CaseTanzania GovtWomen Charity
Previous Article

WHO warns against using antiviral drug, remdesivir ...

Next Article

Donald Trump Jr. tests positive for COVID-19

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

alternativeafrica

Related articles More from author

  • AfricaBusinessNews Now

    Groupe Nduom drags Ghana government to court over debt

    July 10, 2019
    By alternativeafrica
  • AfricaNews Now

    Moroccan MP sues employee for stealing 16 eggs

    January 12, 2021
    By alternativeafrica
  • AfricaNews Now

    Zambian woman who ‘sues partner for not marrying her’ after 8yrs dating looses case

    December 12, 2020
    By alternativeafrica
  • AfricaBusinessEnvironmentNews Now

    Africa to scrap coal power stations for renewable energy, says AfDB President

    September 26, 2019
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    EFCC Docks Man for Internet Scam, Money Laundering

    February 19, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    The property we seized from Saraki was unlawfully acquired without payment -Kwara Assembly

    October 7, 2019
    By alternativeafrica

Leave a reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might be interested

  • AfricaBusinessNews Now

    Nigeria: Metropolitan farmers in Lagos, Ogun embrace greenhouse farming to increase food production

  • AfricaBusinessNews Now

    ECA’s 2020 Conference of Africa’s Ministers to focus on industrialization in the digital era

  • HealthNews Now

    Germany battling rising cases of Female genital mutilation

Timeline

  • February 26, 2021

    Antibiotics made from Cannabis could be available within five years-UK Neurologist

  • February 26, 2021

    COVAX to pay compensation for any harmful side effects of covid vaccine

  • February 26, 2021

    China donates 200,000 doses of China-made vaccine Sinopharm to Sierra Leone

  • February 25, 2021

    Scientists discover the fossil of 66-million years old Coelacanth fish in Morocco

  • February 25, 2021

    Morocco receives additional one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines as vaccination nears 3m

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Morocco begins regional integration by connecting Casablanca Airport with High Speed Train

    By alternativeafrica
    January 4, 2020
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Nigeria: 32,000 capacity Lagos rice mill to start production in 2020

    By alternativeafrica
    December 23, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack followed a ...
AlternativeAfrica.com is an independent Pan African News Website dedicated primarily to influencing the negative narratives about Africa. We hope to do this by focusing and showcasing the many developmental strides sweeping across the continent.

Read more >>>

Contact Info

  • info@alternativeafrica.com
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Antibiotics made from Cannabis could be available within five years-UK Neurologist

    By alternativeafrica
    February 26, 2021
  • COVAX to pay compensation for any harmful side effects of covid vaccine

    By alternativeafrica
    February 26, 2021
  • China donates 200,000 doses of China-made vaccine Sinopharm to Sierra Leone

    By alternativeafrica
    February 26, 2021
  • Scientists discover the fossil of 66-million years old Coelacanth fish in Morocco

    By alternativeafrica
    February 25, 2021
  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Macron in Ivory Coast to launch anti-terrorism academy

    By alternativeafrica
    December 21, 2019
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...

Photostream

    Follow us

    • Home
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
    © Copyright Alternative Africa 2019. All rights reserved.