New government policy in Uganda encourages girls wo have given birth to go back to school and parents can report school heads who deny their children access to classes.

Some religious leaders from the beginning however oppose this new policy. Bishop James William Ssebaggala -head of Mukono diocese insists that the church opened schools to promote “knowledge , morals and also the fear of God”

The bishop explains that they were opposed to young mothers in class because their relationship with God is “broken”.

“Children learn by seeing, whatever they see is what they learn. If a teacher misbehaves, they think that is the way to go. If such girls come in school , morality falls out.” Ssebaggala added.

Uganda has suffered so far the biggest number of teenage pregnancies during Covid-19 which was going to leave the classrooms empty and the dreams of many girls shuttered once school opened after a two year shutdown.

Uganda recorded 290.219 teenage pregnancies from January to September 2021 beating the numbers in the two previous years.

Courtesy photo.