The World Bank has suspended a planned $ 300 million educational loan to Tanzania amid concerns about the country’s policy of banning pregnant girls from going to school.
The loan facility was meant to help Tanzania’s Ministry of Education improve access to quality secondary education.
It was scheduled to be approved by the bank’s management late last month, but a source within the bank told CNN the program was instead withdrawn and will not be going forward.
Tanzania’s policy of expelling pregnant girls from school was one of the reasons for the loan to be withdrawn, CNN reports.
A law dating back to the 1960s allows all state schools in Tanzania to ban young mothers from attending school.
Over the past decade more than 55,000 Tanzanian pregnant schoolgirls have been expelled from school, according to a 2013 report by the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli in June this year went a step further, announcing that pregnant students would not be allowed to return to school after giving birth.
There are no official statistics on how many pregnant girls have been expelled from Tanzanian schools.
Women’s groups In Tanzania believe the ban is out of touch with public opinion and breaks international human rights conventions.
It also contradicts a promise set out in the ruling party’s 2015 election manifesto, which pledged to allow pregnant school girls to continue with their studies.
Source: Africafeeds.com
