By Kemo Cham
The United Nations Children agency Unicef has announced a project aimed at ensuring pregnant girls get education despite their condition.
The initiative which has the blessing of the government will target some 3000 pregnant teenage girls with the goal of providing them tuition fees and learning materials, as well as encouraging children who remained at home following the Ebola outbreak return to school.
The initiative was announced as part of commemoration of the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11.
This year`s theme is ‘The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030”.
On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 declaring 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face around the world.
Last month, world leaders again assembled at the UN where a new dawn was reached. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) pursued since 2000 were replaced with another sets of goals to be achieved by 2030. At the center of these is the issue of girls.
There are calls for UN agencies, member states, civil society organizations, and private sector stakeholders to commit to putting adolescent girls at the centre of the new ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ with emphasis on investment in key areas, including high quality education, skills, training, access to technology and other learning initiatives that prepare girls for life, jobs, and leadership.
There are also the crucial issues of health and nutrition, prevention of violence against girls, among others.
Around 65 million adolescents are out of school globally, according to the UN agency, noting that over half of that number is girls.
Unicef in a statement cited the impact of the Ebola crisis on adolescent girls in Sierra Leone, particularly during the 8-month closure of schools.
It also drew attention to the ‘Children’s Ebola Recovery Assessment in Sierra Leone’ done in collaboration with the charities Save the Children, World Vision International, and Plan International which exposed increased child labour, exploitation, violence and exposure to teenage pregnancy during the course of the outbreak.
The UN agency said for adolescent girls who got pregnant during the emergency, there was a high risk that many may not return to school, hence the initiative for over 3,000 pregnant and recently pregnant teenage girls. The beneficiaries will be supported in schools and Community Learning Centres, and through school radio programmes at home.
A crucial aspect of this is the elimination of school fees, provision of learning kits, and social mobilisation, which will see volunteers move house-to-house to try to convince children who are not back in school to return.
“If teenage pregnant girls drop out of education, it will have a negative impact on Sierra Leone long after the last case of Ebola,” said UNICEF Country Representative, Geoff Wiffin, in a statement.
“Education, skills training and access to information technology can transform adolescent girls’ lives and prepare girls for life, jobs and leadership,” he added.
Unicef says the children of more educated mothers are more likely to receive vaccines, see a doctor if they were sick, received rehydration if they had diarrhoea, sleep under insecticide-treated nets to guard against Malaria, and benefit from other health-related practices.
It also points to research showing that half the reduction in under 5 mortality can be traced to increases in schooling for young women.
(C) Politico 13/10/15
