By Ralph Sesay From Bo city
The Government of Sierra Leone has, today the 17th May, 2018, been dragged to the ECOWAS Court by the erstwhile Minster of Education, Science and Technology Dr. Minkailu Bah, over the continuous ban on pregnant school girls since April, 2015.
This development was disclosed to newsmen at a press conference in the southern City of Bo by a number of Civil Society Organizations comprising Defense for Children International, WAVES, Equality Now, CWS and Women’s Participation for Justice (WPFJ) and Graceland Sierra Leone.
According to Abdul Manaf Kemokai, Executive Director Defence for Children International (DCI), who gave an overview of what he referred to as the campaign by Defence for Children International and other NGOs to get the government of Sierra Leone to lift a ban imposed on pregnant school girls single handedly by the then minister of Education some four (4) years, they, as Civil Society organizations, were concerned immediately the ban was imposed just after the Ebola scourge that hit the country. He noted that, as at the time, over 500 pregnant schoolgirls were affected nationwide.
Mr. Kemokai noted that they immediately engaged government to see reason and reverse this ban since, according to him, it was against International UN Conventions and Resolutions and domestically the 2004 Education Act and the Child Rights Act of Sierra Leone.
The DCI Director informed the press that they succeeded in getting government to set up an alternative school system away from the mainstream school to get the girls back to school since, according to the Minister, getting the pregnant girls into mainstream schools would pollute the other girls who are not pregnant.
He expressed disappointment that government was not able to sustain this alternative school system because it was mainly donor driven and hence the plight of the girls was also thrown into chaos.
Representatives from Child Rights Organizations, Human Rights Commission, Sierra Leone, Ministry of Education, Civil Society Organizations, journalists and the umbrella organization SLAJ highlighted the different international and national laws that frown against discrimination of children from education.
They noted that education is an essential right from which children would derive other basic rights such as health and social rights, etc., and therefore restricting it would render the child useless in their society. The different organizations called on government to immediately lift the ban since, according to them, education is a universal and exclusive right which should not be restricted by anybody whatsoever.
They concluded by encouraging the civil society organizations to dialogue with the new government whose flagship project is education since, according to them, political will is very much necessary in achieving the primary objectives of the campaign.
The climax of the press conference was the issue of a press statement on behalf of the coalition of civil society by the National Chairlady, Madam Hannah Yambasu, which, amongst other things, drew the attention of participants to a ban instituted on pregnant girls from attending public schools in April, 2015, despite the fact that many of the schools girls were sexually violated during the dark days of the Ebola quarantine and that these girls, according to the release, were minors and statutorily incapable of consenting to sexual relations in the first instance .
“It has not been four (4) years since the issuance of this ban. Four years of young teenage girls being denied education, four years their lives being robbed. Pregnant girls are being blamed and shamed and are being denied a chance to move forward with their lives, while their perpetrators walk scot free” the release further noted.
The release ended up by concluding that if there is no intervention, this will result in a lifetime of illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and extreme violations for these girls.
“We therefore, WAVES, DCI, CWS, EQUALITY NOW and IHRDA, have filed a case today 17th May,2018 at the ECOWAS Court of justice on behalf of these girls to seek justice for them,” the release concludes .
Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Education, Brima Turay, stated that he is yet to make any response on such a sensitive issue until he confers with the Minister and other professional heads of the Ministry. He confirmed that it was a cabinet conclusion that all pregnant girls should not be allowed in mainstream schools contrary to the allegations by the CSOs that the action was single handedly taken by the erstwhile Minister.
Mr. Turay however told this medium that the Ministry established learning centers all over the country for these pregnant girls and that a very good number of them who were pregnant during the Ebola had been returned back to the mainstream schools.
It could be noted that the new administration of Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio has prioritized education as a tool for enhancing the much needed development in Sierra Leone with the introduction of free quality education from pre-Primary to Secondary education with emphasis on technical, literacy and adult components.
The landmark move by the Civil Society Organizations today, to drag the government to court over the ban of these pregnant girls, a legacy the new administration inherited from the APC government, is a huge embarrassment for a government that is well underway to roll out a massive education for all school going children by September, 2018.