Description
Institutions can offer remedial classes for student-parents to keep up with their studies while they are on maternity or parental leave. At the Diphalana Initiative at the Pekenene School in Botswana, pregnant students were allowed to undergo remedial work to make up the classes and schoolwork they missed during their maternity leave. The Diphalana Initiative arranged for schoolwork and other educational materials to be delivered to students’ homes and developed distance education modules that pregnant learners could take at home. Similarly, the Programme for Adolescent Mothers in Jamaica offered tutoring to pregnant students to “strengthen their academic capabilities and [prepare] them to return to formal schooling” as well as to prepare them to take their final exams. Moi University in Kenya also offers remedial classes, with the aim of “encourage[ing] female students who find no time to revise at home to improve on their knowledge and skills.”
Implementation lessons learned
Although remedial classes allow female students to continue in school, the practice does not necessarily challenge discriminatory gender beliefs. When implemented in the context of policies that otherwise exclude pregnant students from the education system, the practice does change power imbalances. However, this is not an inherent feature of the practice.
Program planners should consider outreach to the institutional community. The initiatives in Botswana and Jamaica found that teachers’ and students’ attitudes as well as general attitudes were often unsupportive of the initiatives. In addition, students never used the distance education modules developed by the Diphalana Initiative, partly because some students returned to school quickly.
Example
Information on Programme for Adolescent Mothers counseling services
Additional information: PDF