EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

THE RE-ENTRY POLICY ON THE GIRL CHILD’S EDUCATION,

ADOLESCENT PREGNANCIES & EARLY MARRIAGES

IN ZAMBIA

A Focus on World Vision Zambia in the Southern Region

By

Nasser Shomo

22 May, 2015

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A study submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY

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Dedication

I dedicate this study to Sinazongwe Youth Club, in honour of the late James Chila and

Preacher Mizinga who lost their lives on a fateful day of May, 2007. Courageous sons of the

land, they gave up their lives on their way from an anti HIV & AIDS outreach campaign in a

far-to-reach, trouble spot. The legacy remains among all those dedicated to being a voice of

the vulnerable, wishing to see that youths live up to their potential, most especially girls of

the rural communities.

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Abstract

The increasing level of adolescents that are reported to have fallen pregnant is alarming to the

health of this nation. This is particularly because it directly affects the education and health of

females, and in the long run their economic status, which further compounds the problem of

gender disparity and frustrates efforts in this area of development. While the Ministry of

Education has supported a Re-entry Policy that allows girls who fall pregnant back to school,

there are mixed concerns as to whether this leaves the rest of the country to clean up the flood

while the tap is left running. The utilization of the policy is consistently low with less than

two out of every five girls returning to school after falling pregnant. Once this problem is

addressed, the progress towards promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women,

and improving adolescent health will be made real. This is important for securing the future

of the nation. This study suggests a “bull’s-eye concept” in approaching the problem where

different stakeholders can focus their efforts at different levels on the core problem. The

study was undertaken using mixed methods to gather quantitative and qualitative information

through literature review, key informant interviews, case studies and questionnaire

administration. The focus was on areas where World Vision Zambia was operating and

youths in Pemba district of Southern Province were particularly targeted. The grounded

theory strategy was used to obtain an in-depth understanding of concepts arising from

findings. Findings were that there is an increase in teenage pregnancies due to a number of

factors that theoretically are in tandem with the modernization and westernization of the

Zambian culture. The implication of the findings is that the Re-entry Policy requires reform

and the mandate for its implementation extended beyond the Ministry of Education. Results

from the study can be generalized to help not only towards increasing the number of

returning girls to complete school, but to also effectively design strategies that address the

maze of problems brought about by of teenage pregnancies and early marriages countrywide.

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

The study explored the relationship between the Re-entry Policy, adolescent pregnancies and

early marriages through an in-depth understanding of the different views of actors at different

levels, literature reviews and case studies. Although the Re-entry Policy was introduced to

encourage girls back into schools after having fallen pregnant, some critics see this as

contributing to the rising statistics of teenage pregnancies which can be traced back to the

time the policy was pronounced. On the contrary, the Ministry of Education argues that if the

policy was favouring the increase in pregnancy, then all those that fell pregnant would have

been returning to schools, which has not been the case. The study therefore is drawn into

investigating factors responsible for adolescent pregnancies and early marriage and to

establish how adolescent girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy can be encouraged to

continue and complete their education. This is against the background of early marriages

which are setback to the physical and economic welfare of the girls, ultimately affecting their

development and exposing them to the vicious cycle of poverty. The nature of the problem

makes it a concern to the field of management of development projects, which underscores

the interest that project management has got in the study.

1.2 Background to the study

This section provides an overview of the context in which the study was carried out and the

background information on the variables in the study.

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1.2.1 Context

Zambia is located in the central part of Southern Africa, with a land area covering 725, 000

square kilometres and 13,046,508 people out of whom 6,394,455 are males while 6,652,053

are females. Sixty one percent of the country’s population lives in the rural area. Lusaka

province has the largest population with 2,198,996, followed by Copperbelt with 1,958,623,

Northern with 1,759,600, Eastern with 1,707, 731 and Southern with 1,606,793. The gender

breakdown of Southern province is 786,394 males and 820,399 females. In the 2000 to 2010

period, Southern province recorded a growth rate of 2.9 percent, which was higher than the

national average of 2.8 percent. It is ranked as having the fifth highest share of the country’s

population at 11.7 percent, after Northern Province at 12.8 percent, Eastern Province at 13.1

percent, Copperbelt Province at 15.5 percent, and the highest which is Lusaka Province at

17.2 percent. Choma, which is the provincial headquarters, is among the districts with the

lowest growth rate of 1.8 percent, and a population share of 15.3 percent, ranking third in the

province (CSO, 2011). Pemba was a constituency in Choma district until the year 2012 when

it became a district. It has a population of 64,918, made up of 35,161 (54 percent) adults aged

18 years and above while 29,757 (46 percent) are children (ibid: 22). World Vision Zambia

operates in two sites of Pemba district namely Moyo and Hamaundu Area Development

Programmes (ADP). These cover Kauba and Hamaundu wards respectively. Kauba ward has

a population of 3,339 males and 3,697 females, out of whom 41 percent are aged 18 and

above. Hamaundu ward has 8,625 males and 9,298 females, with 43 percent aged 18 years

and above (p.51). There are 24 schools in the two ADPs with an estimated combined

population of 6,500.

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1.2.2 Re-entry Policy, Adolescent Pregnancies and Early Marriages in Zambia

The Global Health Learning Centre (GHLC) defines Adolescence as a time of transition that

is marked by many physical, psychological, and social milestones including physical and

physiological changes in the bodies and brains of boys and girls. Changes take place in

perceptions of themselves and others, development of personal values that are influenced by

gender norms and guide behavior, sexual initiation, transition to economic independence

from elders and a separate household, and transition to adult roles and responsibilities, many

of which are shaped by gender and gender norms. The pace of this transition varies among

individuals and cultures, although a common starting point is the onset of puberty which

globally for girls is between the ages of 8 and 13, with their first menstruation reached

several years later. Boys enter puberty between the ages of 9 and 14 and reach semenarche

between 11 and 15. Adolescence marks a critical time of development for young people—

including physical, psychological, and social changes, and the formation of one's identity

separate from parents. Young people start acquiring information, developing attitudes, and

experimenting with relationships and behaviors that affect their present and future well-being

(GHLC).

As young people begin to consider the future, they may still not be aware of or understand all

of the consequences of their behavior. They may lack the information and self-confidence to

make informed and independent decisions. They may not accurately perceive their risk of

illness or death. Their behaviour and decisions, including whether or not to have sex, may be

as a result of influence by their peers, and their sexual encounters are often unplanned and

unprotected. For UNIFPA (2006) Early marriage, also known as Child marriage, is defined

as “any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years, before the girl is physically,

physiologically, and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and

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childbearing.” UNICEF reports that Zambia experiences a high rate of early marriages, with

42 percent of women aged 20-24 having gotten married before the age of 18. Early marriage

and childbearing pose severe risks for girls who are not yet physically, mentally and

emotionally developed. Damaging effects are wide-ranging and have implications for entire

societies. When girls are in poor health, uneducated and ill-prepared for their roles as

mothers, costs are borne at multiple levels – from the household to the entire nation.

Although laws prohibiting child marriage exist in most countries, addressing both minimum

age and consent, they are rarely enforced in impoverished developing nations. Some laws do

not contain sanctions, which means the only outcome of a case is to declare the marriage

invalid, leaving the wife with no further legal protection. There is therefore, a considerable

discrepancy between the legal and actual marriage age of girls in many poor countries.

Religious and educational philosopher John Henry Newman wrote back in 1852, “it is the

education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a

truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them”

(Scardino, 2009). The adage “educate a man, you educate an individual, but educate a

woman, you educate a nation”, summarizes the essence of education to the girl-child and

indeed, to every educable human being, and so calls for special attention to be focused on

education of the girl-child (Offorma, 2009).

According to the Ministry of Education's Policy “Educating Our Future”, where access,

participation and achievement in education are impeded by gender, physical, mental,

economic, or social factors, the government has committed to seek to eliminate sources of

educational disadvantage in order to enhance equity. The policy states that the centrality of

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women’s contribution to national development underlines the importance of integrating

gender concerns into all development interventions. The national goal of accelerated

development cannot be attained without special attention to the needs of women and girls. It

is necessary, therefore, that all national policies include gender-specific considerations. The

Millennium Development Goal report (Syampungani, 2011) on MDG 3 - Promoting gender

equality and the empowerment of women, notes that with regards to gender parity in

education, the ratio of girls to boys in primary education improved from 0.90 in 1990 to 0.96

in 2009. In secondary school this rate decreased from 0.92 in 1990 to 0.88 in 2009. The

report attributes this to early marriage, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and cultural and social

factors that deter girls and women from actively participating in the life of their communities.

The Re-entry Policy provides opportunities to girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy

to be able to continue with education and thus the focus of this study on the relationship

between the Re-entry Policy, teenage pregnancies and early marriages. The study samples

some of World Vision Zambia’s operation areas and particularly focuses on the rural parts of

Zambia. World Vision Zambia is actively involved with child programming which includes

protection and advocacy. It operates to facilitate the implementation of development through

collaboration with networking partners. According to Ministry of Education Educational

Statistical Bulletin (2008), while pregnancies are higher in rural areas than urban areas, the

opposite is the case with readmissions. It adds that this is all the more important in Zambia

where, although progress has been made in enhancing the socio-economic status of women,

they still remain among the disadvantaged and marginalized.

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Particularly, this is evident in the feminization of poverty as reflected in the limited access of

females to productive resources, social services, remunerative employment opportunities, and

participation in political and managerial decision-making processes. The disadvantaged status

of women and girls is also strongly marked in the education sector.

1.3 Problem statement

“…[Adolescent] pregnancy brings unexpected occurrences which if not handled with care

and maturity by the involved, may be a burden that could bring about fatigue and low

performance which consequently may result in loss of morale and perhaps giving up [on

education]”.

“The description above is the demise a rural girl child is undergoing and if we do not lessen

her burden, we will just end up at having the re – entry policy in our files” (Milambo, 2013).

The statement above is from a teacher at a rural school who is actively working with the

community. Available statistics in Zambia indicate that girls' enrollment in Grade 1 is almost

equal to that of boys. Then in subsequent grades, the number of girls decreases steadily, with

a noticeably high female drop-out from Grade 4 onwards. For every 100 girls who begin

primary school, only 70 complete the full primary course, 23 proceed into junior secondary

school, 9 into senior secondary, and 7 sit for the School Certificate Examination in Grade 12.

This narrowing of educational opportunities for girls becomes even more pronounced at

tertiary level. The only exception is in primary teacher training where a reasonable gender

balance is maintained, with some 49 percent of the students being female. At the universities,

gender imbalance is even more pronounced, both in terms of numbers and of fields of study

(Ministry of Education, 2006).

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The problem under study is therefore the low utilization of the Re-entry Policy despite

growing numbers of pregnancies among adolescents, especially because pregnancy is likely

to lead to marriage.