Uganda’s Young Mothers program helps teen mom refugees to school

Emma* is 17 and lives in a refugee settlement in Northern Uganda, after she and her family were forced to leave South Sudan due to the war. Emma was doing well in school in Uganda but the the two years of school closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic stopped her in her tracks. Without the daily support of her school Emma found it hard to continue studying and ended up becoming pregnant.

When schools reopened in January 2022 her baby was still very young and there was no one to take care of her, so she wasn’t able to return to school. For Emma, and many other teenage girls in Uganda, getting pregnant while in school automatically means they will drop out. In theory the Ugandan government encourages teenage mothers to return to school, but they require girls to leave school three months before they give birth, and they can’t return until the baby is at least six months old. So in practice, girls miss a minimum of nine months of school, which leads to permanent drop-out for most of them. 

Because of this, Street Child runs a Young Mothers Learning Program, which ensures that girls can not only keep up with their studies while having their baby, but can even progress. This encourages girls to stay engaged in their education and ultimately supports them to return to school. Under the Young Mothers Learning Program a total of 130 young mothers have been enrolled, including Emma, with the aim of providing them with the right skills and support to go back to school and succeed there after their child’s birth.

One month into the program Emma progressed from level 2 to level 3 in literacy. The community volunteer teachers approached the school about her performance, and she was readmitted to Grade 4 with all the necessary skills to succeed there.  

Emma now hopes to continue her education and work hard for herself and her child. She says, ‘I am working so hard now to ensure I complete my studies. Before, I had lost all hope of completing school.’ When asked about her dreams, Emma said she wants to be a teacher and now has the hope of doing this! Emma has worked hard to get back into school, but without the support from the Young Mothers Learning Program she would not have been able to do this. She is encouraging her friends who are also teenage mothers to return to school and complete their studies.

‘I am now very confident that my future will be okay because I am now committed to completing my studies and becoming a teacher. I thank Street Child who came to our home and talked to me about returning to school. I always tell my friends not to worry because they will see success’, says Emma.