JournAids Malawi urge govt to review the school re-admission policy
Journalists Association Against AIDS (JournAids Malawi) has called on government to consider reviewing the re-admission policy saying the current policy gag girls to voice out their concerns.
Programs Manager for Journalists Against Aids Dingaani Mithi made the call during the consultative meeting on legal Policy framework in Lilongwe on Friday.
Mithi said the current policy which is being used now prevents girls from returning to school after delivery and also it has many loopholes in itself.
“The school readmission policy is left isolated, not well implemented and even difficult to be monitored such that when we go to primary and secondary schools there is poor data collection and monitoring you don’t know how many girls have dropped out of school due to pregnancies or early marriages and how many have completed primary and secondary school levels” he said.
According to Mithi the development is a major setback because it is difficult to put in measures to address some challenges these girls face since there is poor data collection and monitoring.
He therefore, said there is need for Ministries of Gender, Education and Health to jointly work together and have national action plan on the implementation of the policy.
“We have plans to meet the government and other decision makers on how best we can have this policy work, because if left like this then we are letting it out to have more gaps, it’s sad to see that even some teachers or head teachers are not conversant with the policy” Mithi said.
Last year the country held the National Girls Education Conference in Lilongwe and government through the Director for secondary and Distance learning in the Ministry of Education Chikondano Mussa admitted that re-admission policy indeed has some gaps but said as government they are trying to have all problems regarding the policy fixed.
JournAIDS Malawi is a media non-governmental organization established in 2002, by a group of prominent journalists with special interest to contribute in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Malawi and the Sub-Saharan Region at large.
