Schools shun teen mothers

BY DONNA HUSSEY-WHYTE Observer staff reporter husseyd@jamaicaobserver.com

Thursday, March 11, 2010

SOME Jamaican schools have been shunning teen mothers who have passed through the Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation programme, denying them the chance to continue their education after giving birth.

Executive Director of the Women's Centre Beryl Weir said it is often hard to reinstate the girls after they have passed through the programme, as they are often stigmatised and refused a place back in school, even while teen fathers remain on roll.

Addressing reporters and editors at the Observer's weekly Monday Exchange meeting earlier this week, Weir said when a girl becomes pregnant in school, she is often forced to leave the education system completely because of this practice, which is partly supported by the Education Act.

"I think you are well aware that when a girl becomes pregnant in school in Jamaica, she must leave the education system -- the Education Act actually says that," Weir said. "And so she leaves. And had it not been for programmes like the Women's Centre, that girl would be left to chance. If she happens to know a teacher or someone who could get her back into the education system, or if her parents are able to pay for private tuition -- other than that, she would remain semi-literate."

According to the Education Act (Education Regulations 1980) Section 31, "a student of a public education institution who becomes pregnant shall be excluded from attending the institution during the period of pregnancy, but the minister may take such steps as may be necessary to permit her to continue her education in that institution or if convenient in another public institution".

It also states that arrangements may be made to enable students who have been suspended or excluded from school for pregnancy or other health reasons to sit important examinations in connection with the completion of their education.

Weir said 2,139 girls up to the age of 17 became pregnant in 2009. The Women's Centre takes the girls during the pregnancies, ensures they continue their education and then helps immediately after their children's births, before attempting to get those who qualify matriculated back into the school system.

It's this attempt, she said, which often proves problematic, as some principals directly refuse to accept the teens, some for fear of "contamination".

Other schools, she said, won't accept the teens who once attended their institutions, but will accept other girls from the Women's Centre.

"But the boys remain in school, that is not a problem!" Weir fumed. "As a matter of fact [the boy] is considered 'macho' by his peers and everybody else, as he 'has done a wonderful thing'."

According to Joyce Hewett, past president and co-ordinator for public education and legal reform at WOMAN Inc, this behaviour is a discriminatory action on the part of the schools.

"The girls are not voluntarily dropping out -- they are kicked out!" Hewett said passionately. "The stigma that was there in 1978 remains, where the girl is seen as the perpetrator."

But, Weir said, while some schools are shunning teen mothers, studies done show that these girls most times go on to excel in their studies, and the rate of second pregnancies is lower for those who enter the Women's Centre programme.

She said one study showed that at least seven per cent of girls from the centre went on to tertiary-level education.

"The best part is that it showed that for every dollar that the Jamaican government spent on a girl at the Women's Centre, the Government benefited by at least $7," Weir said. "So the achievement of the Women's Centre is there in the research."

She explained too, that for any given year, there are a number of teen mothers in the programme who entered the centre in a crisis situation -- pregnant, not liking themselves, being criticised by everybody and whose parents sometimes want nothing to do with them -- and who are nursed back to emotional health by the centre.

Weir proudly stated that the girls excel once placed back into the public school system.

"Many of those who get scholarships are Women's Centre students, but we don't go around saying that they are, because even in the schools nowadays their placements are kind of a secret where even after 32 years there are still school principals who will not take back the girls," Weir said. "So we tend not to broadcast what the girls are doing but they excel. It is like a complete turnaround. "

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COMMENTS (15)

T G
3/12/2010

Joke business......dem better set these things straight. These things have been going on for far too long.
The very fact that they complete a programme and is willing to go forward to regular school says it all.
Question is who else was this reported to other than the media? what steps are been taken to remove the "may clauses from the Education Act. Seems to me if the girls MUST leave school, then the State MUST provide education.
../.TG....

Dean Brown
3/11/2010

I have to ask myself, "If these were the daughters, neices or relatives of these principals, what would they do?" It saddens my heart to know that young ladies, who inspite of their poor decisions, have such potential for success are denied the opportunity because of the ingnorance of pricipals who are supposed to put a priority on educating children and not stand as their judges.
In addition, why is such a foolish law allowed to stay unchanged. Someone needs to adress this issue to the members of Parliament.
To all you young ladies who are fighting to continue your education, I applaud you. Don't give up fighting. But most importantly I encourage you to trust in the Lord. Give Him your life and know this, PERSISTEMCE WILL WEAR OUT RESISTANCE.
Dean A. Brown
Founder & Senior Pastor
Christ Alive Christian Center
Bronx, NY

Brooklyn Jamaican
3/11/2010

While I agree that kicking girls out of schools s archaic and foolish(These principals need to realize they are servants of the state and are not running their private fiefdoms). KIcking the boys out of school is impractical if not impossible. The girls get caught because they show. If a boy gets a female pregnant in his district if he doesn't talk, how will people in his school know? This is why old time people said "Girls you can't do what the guys can do...." Unfair it may be, it is the way it is. So stick to the issue.
Lets not double the problem by kicking boys out of school to create more shottas and cruffs. Once young female mothers do not have disciplinary problems they should be able to retrieve their place in school without, stress and retribution.

3/11/2010

I was appalled after reading this article, as a young mother myself I know how vital it is to get back into education. I feel for these young girls as they are being given a chance to unveil their full potential. This is prejudice and discrimination in all it's form against these girls, being from Jamaica myself I believed that we are conditioned to think that once you get pregnant at an early age there is no hope for us, when in actually fact our eyes become more opened to what we can acheive and push us to work even harder. I believe that the Education Act need to be revised and until this done these girls will not be treated equally and given the same opportunity to complete their education as their counterparts. I was very happy to read about the work that is being done by the Women's Centre, keep it up.

Donna Watts
3/11/2010

I totally agree with the Rev. Blair. I think the continuation of this kind of treatment to our children is what helps to create the crimes that is going on in jamaica. And as for the principal who thinks that these teen moms will contaminate the school system, How dumb is that? what are these girls? some kind of virus or bacteria? poor choise of words for a principal who should be more educated. It is up to us as parent to teach our children morals and sex education not other teens. I don not think either the boy or the girl should be punished for making a mistake. As a matter of fact I am greatful that they have the will power to try to go back to school to finish their education. Jamaica needs to get with the program this is 2010. WE NEED TO UPGRADE!!

Fiona Lewis-Ricketts
3/11/2010

I am a product of th Women's Center. I went back to school (evening school) and gained my o'levels and was able work at a Grace Kennedy subsidiary in accounting for 11 years. I then went on to get my bachelors degree in accounting and will complete my MBA by April 2011. It therefore begs the question, where would I be today if I was'nt given a second chance at education? These principals need to rise from their slumber. This is 2010, not 1965!!!

Anastasia Wilson
3/11/2010

I remember when I was living in JA and attending a very prominent all-girl high school where girls would just 'disappear' or not return after the summer holidays, and everyone knew what it meant. However I also know a couple of those girls who are now professional women, thanks to a second opportunity. Being a teen mom meant you were treated like an outcast with leprosy, and as a previous poster stated, it is a contradiction of Jamaica's values as it relates to abortions. If we don't allow our young women to continue their education, pray tell how will the cycle of poverty and illiteracy end? It takes two to tango so the teen dad shouldn't be able to continue being a student just because a nuh him a carry di belly wha ultimately a guh show.
What a shock it was for me when I started attending HS in da Bronx and had pregnant AND married teens in any given class! What a difference? It quickly became apparent dat di belly nuh stop yuh from learn. If anything I was further convinced of why I didn't want that for myself as a then-teen due to the amount of work involved...not "contaminated" as mentioned above. Nuff a us girls were busy wid our boyfriends under the quiet but only some were unlucky fi get "ketch". Why are the principals acting like a high number of their students aren't sexually active?
It is high time they make more allowances for the young women. Just cause they got pregnant doesn't mean they are big dunces. Ol' hypocrit dem...who to tell if some of those said principals weren't themselves teen moms or the product of.

real southy
3/11/2010

many people in Jamaica dont realize how backward a lot of teachers are. there are teachers who do not even have an email address.have no access to internet and some dont even know how to use a computer.they are old fashion and their thinking is old fashion.the majority of principals in Jamaica,the same people who would stop these girls from getting back to school are (1) women,(2) people who claim to be christians

herro blair
3/11/2010

As a minister who have worked with many women who got pregnant early or in school, I know first hand where it leads them to. In cayman for instance, many Jamaican women go there to work as domestic helpers for less thatn $500 usd per month. That is in a country where salaries normally are as high as $2000 - $2500 usd per month for a person without a degree.
To have our women go on in life without affording the m possibility of returning to school, especially after they have gone through a programme with an instituition such as the Women's Centre, is totally absurd. It is the ignorance of our people that is causing us most of the mess we have today, and we should be doing all that we can to move Jamaicans away from ignorance to a place of education.
Most of these young ladies are prepared to move on and advance their lives. It must be therefore imperative for the government to act, and to act now as we must not leave anyone behind. Their potential will never be realised. Just imagine if they were leaving here educated to go aborad. yes that is a brain-drain situation for Jamaica, but it would be a situation though where they would be earning good currency and not the $500 usd many earn. They would be able to send more money home, and they would be able to be a part of building Jamaica.
Let us act on this now. Are we saying that the schools are already too full. No way. We cannot leave them behind. That is how we build ghettoes, that is how we foster crime, that is how we chart a course in the wrong direction for Jamaica land we love.
Let us act now and together transform Jamaica. It cannot be a "who you know" situation that changes this foolish act. Certainly as a Pastor I understand the feeling that allowing them to stay in school "contaminates" the school population. It makes otehr girls feel that they too can get pregnant and stay in school. However, once the law says that they cannot be there during their pregnancy, that should be followed. The question though is, why shun them afterwards. The boys are still there. They are celebrating their "machoness", and the girls suffer.
These boys, especially if they are in school, should be made to attend mandatory counselling wiht the girls at the centre. This is something the ministry should look at if we are to change the social ills of our society.
The Women's Centre does not have the resources to keep these girls all the way through to teh External exams. I am told that only those who get to the centre during the time of their exams will do the CXC's there. The Convention on the rights of a child states that all children must be given the opportunity for an education. That word all includes these wonderful young ladies.
Let us act now.
Herro Blair Jr
Executive Director
Jamaica Youth for Christ
2 Acacia Ave
Kingston 5

Earl Brown
3/11/2010

The boys should be kick out also, why victimized the girls only?

Nancy G
3/11/2010

The very word "contamination", used as the reason for not allowing these girls into school, shows the backwardness and bigotry of those principals. What are they going to contaminate? The morals of the boys?

D Ranks
3/11/2010

I remember girls who dropped out of school because of pregnancy, but that was in the seventies when pregnancies of girls were seen as a terrible shame. I thought that those terrible days were behind us, but here it is, young girls with so much potential are still being punished because of a pregnancy. When will we ever grow up?
Those principals who practice this sort of discrimination ought to say thanks to the Women Centre, that is doing such a wonderful job. While saying thanks, the principals, should welcomed back those girls and give them all the guidance to become responsible adults. The very fact that the girls are back in school is a sign of their commitment. Why the denial then, of letting them be what they wnat to be, as many principal would preach.
And, for god's sake, stop using the stupid excuse about "contamination". Contaminate what? The world is so open up and information so free and easy to get that if you think a pregnant girl or teenage mother in school is going to contaminate the rest, you have another guess coming. If that is how you, as principal, think then maybe you should not be in the business of guiding young people, you should just lock yourself inside and turn off all your electroninc communication devices. What the young people need, especailly at this age of high sexual awareness is guidance, not scare tactics, about "comtamination", as if pregnancy is the end of life.

Brooklyn Jamaican
3/11/2010

Jamaicans are so wicked and heartless. See them making a big halabaloo about Womens day and most of these schools are run by women. Yet they have no pity on these teenagers

LadyP Jamdown
3/11/2010

Thank God for services such as the Women's Centre that give a second chance to young girls. Everyone can make a mistake, but to have your education compromised forever just because of that mistake and just because you happen to be female is wrong! What action is ever takend against the boys. What would happen if Women's Centre did not exist - For a country that states it is anti abortion, you are not leaving our girls with much choice!

D Lady
3/11/2010

This is a form of discrimination; if the teen father is allowed to continue his education without a hindrance the mother should be able to do the same. Maybe the education system would be happy if the girls aborted the baby. The message they are sending is that your baby is a mistake and you cannot go any further with your education if you decide to have it; so just abort it and you can continue with your education.

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