Gov’t implements policy to reintegrate adolescent mothers into school system
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Government is moving to make it easier for adolescent mothers to complete their education.
“The policy for the Reintegration of School-Age Mothers into the Formal School System makes it mandatory for adolescent mothers to return to the education system after the birth of their babies,” Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, says.
Grange was speaking at a Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF)at the Jamaica Conference Centre today, where she signed a Letter of Commitment with the Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Floyd Green.
The policy will ensure automatic referral of all pregnant girls to the WCJF, reintegration of all adolescent mothers into the formal school system, either in their former school or in another school at the same level, and the monitoring of adolescent mothers to ensure that they complete their education.
Prior to this policy, the WCJF, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport was responsible for negotiating spaces with schools.
Grange said that over that past five years 2,002 adolescent mothers have been reintegrated into the formal school system.
