UNEB PRINCIPAL PRO JENNIFER KALULE MUSAMBA

BY ROSE KASIGWA

Seventeen pregnant Senior Four students across the country have been officially permitted by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) to participate in their ongoing Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) final examinations which commenced on October 10, 2025, and will conclude on November 15, 2025.

UNEB Spokesperson Jennifer Kalule Musamba told reporters in Kampala, that this allowance underscores UNEB’s commitment to inclusive education, ensuring that expectant mothers are not disenfranchised from completing their academic milestones, a policy that has been consistently upheld to support the girl child’s right to education.

Musamba said that while the board does not condone teen pregnancies, affected candidates are granted an extra 45 minutes to complete their exams.

She added that the examination process has been progressing smoothly with no major disruptions.

The Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) a not-for-profit human right non–governmental organization (NGO) report indicate Teenage pregnancy is one of the main factors which inhibit continued education for girls in Uganda.

The report further show that  in Uganda, it is estimated that 28% of school-aged girls are engaged in sexual activity, resulting in 80.1% of them becoming pregnant, and 97% of those are discontinued from their studies.

Globally, it is estimated that 21 million girls aged 15–19 years in developing countries become pregnant, and approximately 12 million of them give birth. There has been a global decline in adolescent birth rates, from 64.5 births per 1000 women (15–19 years) in 2000 to 41.3 births per 1000 women in 2023.

In spite of the decline, sub – Saharan African has maintained the highest rate of adolescent Birth rates globally at 99.4 per 1000 women in 2022.

Uganda is among the Sub–Saharan countries grappling with high teenage pregnancy and adolescent births. The country’s teenage pregnancy rate stands at 25%, being the highest among countries in the East African sub-region.

Currently, the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) follows the Revised Guidelines on Prevention and Management of Teenage Pregnancy in School Settings. The Guidelines were developed to assist adolescent mothers and pregnant girls in completing their school cycles, as well as to provide schools with guidance on the prevention and management of adolescent pregnancy in school settings.

However, the Guidelines place limitations and conditions for return to school by teenage mothers. They provide for a mandatory leave of one year from the time a female learner is three months pregnant until the baby is six months old.  In case, it is a male learner responsible for the pregnancy, he will also be subjected to the same period of leave.

However, where a girl is just a month or two weeks away to sit her promotional exams, permission should be granted to sit for the exams before taking the mandatory leave.

 Women Human rights defenders and activists in Uganda state that unfortunately, the foregoing policy position is counterproductive in facilitating the return of such learners and majority end up dropping out of schools. It has been estimated that 97% of the learners that get pregnant discontinue their education.