This document is a study exploring the relationship between Zambia's re-entry policy for pregnant girls, adolescent pregnancies, and early marriages. It finds that while the policy allows girls to return to school after pregnancy, utilization of the policy remains low with less than 40% of girls returning. The study was conducted in Pemba district, Zambia, where World Vision operates, using literature reviews, interviews, and questionnaires. It finds that teenage pregnancies are increasing due to factors related to modernization, while the re-entry policy requires reform and broader implementation beyond the Ministry of Education alone to effectively address the problems of teenage pregnancy and early marriage in Zambia.

1. EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN
THE RE-ENTRY POLICY ON THE GIRL
CHILD’S EDUCATION,
ADOLESCENT PREGNANCIES
& EARLY MARRIAGES
IN ZAMBIA
A Focus on World Vision Zambia
in the Southern Region
By
Nasser Shomo
22 May, 2015

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A study submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY

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Dedication
I dedicate this study to Sinazongwe Youth Club, in honour of the late James Chila and
Preacher Mizinga who lost their lives on a fateful day of May, 2007. Courageous sons of the
land, they gave up their lives on their way from an anti HIV & AIDS outreach campaign in a
far-to-reach, trouble spot. The legacy remains among all those dedicated to being a voice of
the vulnerable, wishing to see that youths live up to their potential, most especially girls of
the rural communities.

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Abstract
The increasing level of adolescents that are reported to have fallen pregnant is alarming to the
health of this nation. This is particularly because it directly affects the education and health of
females, and in the long run their economic status, which further compounds the problem of
gender disparity and frustrates efforts in this area of development. While the Ministry of
Education has supported a Re-entry Policy that allows girls who fall pregnant back to school,
there are mixed concerns as to whether this leaves the rest of the country to clean up the flood
while the tap is left running. The utilization of the policy is consistently low with less than
two out of every five girls returning to school after falling pregnant. Once this problem is
addressed, the progress towards promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women,
and improving adolescent health will be made real. This is important for securing the future
of the nation. This study suggests a “bull’s-eye concept” in approaching the problem where
different stakeholders can focus their efforts at different levels on the core problem. The
study was undertaken using mixed methods to gather quantitative and qualitative information
through literature review, key informant interviews, case studies and questionnaire
administration. The focus was on areas where World Vision Zambia was operating and
youths in Pemba district of Southern Province were particularly targeted. The grounded
theory strategy was used to obtain an in-depth understanding of concepts arising from
findings. Findings were that there is an increase in teenage pregnancies due to a number of
factors that theoretically are in tandem with the modernization and westernization of the
Zambian culture. The implication of the findings is that the Re-entry Policy requires reform
and the mandate for its implementation extended beyond the Ministry of Education. Results
from the study can be generalized to help not only towards increasing the number of
returning girls to complete school, but to also effectively design strategies that address the
maze of problems brought about by of teenage pregnancies and early marriages countrywide.

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Overview
The study explored the relationship between the Re-entry Policy, adolescent pregnancies and
early marriages through an in-depth understanding of the different views of actors at different
levels, literature reviews and case studies. Although the Re-entry Policy was introduced to
encourage girls back into schools after having fallen pregnant, some critics see this as
contributing to the rising statistics of teenage pregnancies which can be traced back to the
time the policy was pronounced. On the contrary, the Ministry of Education argues that if the
policy was favouring the increase in pregnancy, then all those that fell pregnant would have
been returning to schools, which has not been the case. The study therefore is drawn into
investigating factors responsible for adolescent pregnancies and early marriage and to
establish how adolescent girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy can be encouraged to
continue and complete their education. This is against the background of early marriages
which are setback to the physical and economic welfare of the girls, ultimately affecting their
development and exposing them to the vicious cycle of poverty. The nature of the problem
makes it a concern to the field of management of development projects, which underscores
the interest that project management has got in the study.
1.2 Background to the study
This section provides an overview of the context in which the study was carried out and the
background information on the variables in the study.

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1.2.1 Context
Zambia is located in the central part of Southern Africa, with a land area covering 725, 000
square kilometres and 13,046,508 people out of whom 6,394,455 are males while 6,652,053
are females. Sixty one percent of the country’s population lives in the rural area. Lusaka
province has the largest population with 2,198,996, followed by Copperbelt with 1,958,623,
Northern with 1,759,600, Eastern with 1,707, 731 and Southern with 1,606,793. The gender
breakdown of Southern province is 786,394 males and 820,399 females. In the 2000 to 2010
period, Southern province recorded a growth rate of 2.9 percent, which was higher than the
national average of 2.8 percent. It is ranked as having the fifth highest share of the country’s
population at 11.7 percent, after Northern Province at 12.8 percent, Eastern Province at 13.1
percent, Copperbelt Province at 15.5 percent, and the highest which is Lusaka Province at
17.2 percent. Choma, which is the provincial headquarters, is among the districts with the
lowest growth rate of 1.8 percent, and a population share of 15.3 percent, ranking third in the
province (CSO, 2011). Pemba was a constituency in Choma district until the year 2012 when
it became a district. It has a population of 64,918, made up of 35,161 (54 percent) adults aged
18 years and above while 29,757 (46 percent) are children (ibid: 22). World Vision Zambia
operates in two sites of Pemba district namely Moyo and Hamaundu Area Development
Programmes (ADP). These cover Kauba and Hamaundu wards respectively. Kauba ward has
a population of 3,339 males and 3,697 females, out of whom 41 percent are aged 18 and
above. Hamaundu ward has 8,625 males and 9,298 females, with 43 percent aged 18 years
and above (p.51). There are 24 schools in the two ADPs with an estimated combined
population of 6,500.

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1.2.2 Re-entry Policy, Adolescent Pregnancies and Early Marriages in Zambia
The Global Health Learning Centre (GHLC) defines Adolescence as a time of transition that
is marked by many physical, psychological, and social milestones including physical and
physiological changes in the bodies and brains of boys and girls. Changes take place in
perceptions of themselves and others, development of personal values that are influenced by
gender norms and guide behavior, sexual initiation, transition to economic independence
from elders and a separate household, and transition to adult roles and responsibilities, many
of which are shaped by gender and gender norms. The pace of this transition varies among
individuals and cultures, although a common starting point is the onset of puberty which
globally for girls is between the ages of 8 and 13, with their first menstruation reached
several years later. Boys enter puberty between the ages of 9 and 14 and reach semenarche
between 11 and 15. Adolescence marks a critical time of development for young people—
including physical, psychological, and social changes, and the formation of one's identity
separate from parents. Young people start acquiring information, developing attitudes, and
experimenting with relationships and behaviors that affect their present and future well-being
(GHLC).
As young people begin to consider the future, they may still not be aware of or understand all
of the consequences of their behavior. They may lack the information and self-confidence to
make informed and independent decisions. They may not accurately perceive their risk of
illness or death. Their behaviour and decisions, including whether or not to have sex, may be
as a result of influence by their peers, and their sexual encounters are often unplanned and
unprotected. For UNIFPA (2006) Early marriage, also known as Child marriage, is defined
as “any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years, before the girl is physically,
physiologically, and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and

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childbearing.” UNICEF reports that Zambia experiences a high rate of early marriages, with
42 percent of women aged 20-24 having gotten married before the age of 18. Early marriage
and childbearing pose severe risks for girls who are not yet physically, mentally and
emotionally developed. Damaging effects are wide-ranging and have implications for entire
societies. When girls are in poor health, uneducated and ill-prepared for their roles as
mothers, costs are borne at multiple levels – from the household to the entire nation.
Although laws prohibiting child marriage exist in most countries, addressing both minimum
age and consent, they are rarely enforced in impoverished developing nations. Some laws do
not contain sanctions, which means the only outcome of a case is to declare the marriage
invalid, leaving the wife with no further legal protection. There is therefore, a considerable
discrepancy between the legal and actual marriage age of girls in many poor countries.
Religious and educational philosopher John Henry Newman wrote back in 1852, “it is the
education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a
truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them”
(Scardino, 2009). The adage “educate a man, you educate an individual, but educate a
woman, you educate a nation”, summarizes the essence of education to the girl-child and
indeed, to every educable human being, and so calls for special attention to be focused on
education of the girl-child (Offorma, 2009).
According to the Ministry of Education's Policy “Educating Our Future”, where access,
participation and achievement in education are impeded by gender, physical, mental,
economic, or social factors, the government has committed to seek to eliminate sources of
educational disadvantage in order to enhance equity. The policy states that the centrality of

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women’s contribution to national development underlines the importance of integrating
gender concerns into all development interventions. The national goal of accelerated
development cannot be attained without special attention to the needs of women and girls. It
is necessary, therefore, that all national policies include gender-specific considerations. The
Millennium Development Goal report (Syampungani, 2011) on MDG 3 - Promoting gender
equality and the empowerment of women, notes that with regards to gender parity in
education, the ratio of girls to boys in primary education improved from 0.90 in 1990 to 0.96
in 2009. In secondary school this rate decreased from 0.92 in 1990 to 0.88 in 2009. The
report attributes this to early marriage, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and cultural and social
factors that deter girls and women from actively participating in the life of their communities.
The Re-entry Policy provides opportunities to girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy
to be able to continue with education and thus the focus of this study on the relationship
between the Re-entry Policy, teenage pregnancies and early marriages. The study samples
some of World Vision Zambia’s operation areas and particularly focuses on the rural parts of
Zambia. World Vision Zambia is actively involved with child programming which includes
protection and advocacy. It operates to facilitate the implementation of development through
collaboration with networking partners. According to Ministry of Education Educational
Statistical Bulletin (2008), while pregnancies are higher in rural areas than urban areas, the
opposite is the case with readmissions. It adds that this is all the more important in Zambia
where, although progress has been made in enhancing the socio-economic status of women,
they still remain among the disadvantaged and marginalized.

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Particularly, this is evident in the feminization of poverty as reflected in the limited access of
females to productive resources, social services, remunerative employment opportunities, and
participation in political and managerial decision-making processes. The disadvantaged status
of women and girls is also strongly marked in the education sector.
1.3 Problem statement
“…[Adolescent] pregnancy brings unexpected occurrences which if not handled with care
and maturity by the involved, may be a burden that could bring about fatigue and low
performance which consequently may result in loss of morale and perhaps giving up [on
education]”.
“The description above is the demise a rural girl child is undergoing and if we do not lessen
her burden, we will just end up at having the re – entry policy in our files” (Milambo, 2013).
The statement above is from a teacher at a rural school who is actively working with the
community. Available statistics in Zambia indicate that girls' enrollment in Grade 1 is almost
equal to that of boys. Then in subsequent grades, the number of girls decreases steadily, with
a noticeably high female drop-out from Grade 4 onwards. For every 100 girls who begin
primary school, only 70 complete the full primary course, 23 proceed into junior secondary
school, 9 into senior secondary, and 7 sit for the School Certificate Examination in Grade 12.
This narrowing of educational opportunities for girls becomes even more pronounced at
tertiary level. The only exception is in primary teacher training where a reasonable gender
balance is maintained, with some 49 percent of the students being female. At the universities,
gender imbalance is even more pronounced, both in terms of numbers and of fields of study
(Ministry of Education, 2006).

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The problem under study is therefore the low utilization of the Re-entry Policy despite
growing numbers of pregnancies among adolescents, especially because pregnancy is likely
to lead to marriage.