Gaps in policy leave Kenyan teen mothers locked out of classrooms – report
By Zipporah Ngwatu, October 4, 2025The implementation of the 2020 national guidelines for school re-entry for adolescent mothers is facing critical gaps.
According to a study report by the Zamara Foundation and the Nyanza Initiative for Girls Education and Empowerment (NIGEE), supported by the Center for Reproductive Rights, despite clear guidelines by the Ministry of Education, there is no clarity on how stakeholders should be actively involved.
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“While the guidelines acknowledge the need for a supportive ecosystem, there is limited clarity on how parents, teachers, guardians, and schools should be actively involved in ensuring a smooth transition for re-entering learners,” Zamara and NIGEE state.
Further, they note that coordination between schools and health facilities remains weak, despite the essential role of healthcare services in addressing the physical and psychosocial needs of adolescent mothers.
Notably, they observe that a major challenge lies in the government’s insufficient investment in infrastructure such as childcare facilities, lactation rooms, and psychosocial support services within schools, which continue to hinder effective re-entry.
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“Without structured funding and an accountability mechanism, the burden of implementation is often shifted to schools and communities, exacerbating inequalities in access to education for young mothers,” the organisations add.
The two organisations now want the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Gender, and the Ministry of Justice — as well as the Interior and National Administration through chiefs — to collaborate to make the implementation of the re-entry policy possible.
The report reveals that there is no provision for how time lost by adolescent mothers when they leave school to deliver should be compensated.
They argue that this has caused young mothers to lose significant learning time at home.
According to the guidelines, pregnant learners can remain in school as long as possible and are expected to re-enter school at least six months after delivery, at the beginning of the next calendar year.
Zamara and NIGEE further refer to a 2022 ruling where the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) recommended that the Republic of Tanzania provide special support programmes to compensate for lost learning time for young mothers.
They want the Ministry of Education in Kenya to replicate the ACERWC recommendation to Tanzania within Kenya’s education system to ensure better learning outcomes for girls who return to school after giving birth.