Zimbabwe makes it illegal for schools to expel pregnant girls

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Zimbabwe has made it illegal for schools to expel pupils who get pregnant, a measure women's rights campaigners said would help tackle gender inequality in the classroom and stop many girls from dropping out of school.

A legal amendment announced last week seeks to reinforce a 1999 guideline that was patchily implemented, and comes as school closures due to coronavirus raise fears of a rise in sexual abuse and unwanted pregnancies.

Many parents of pregnant girls, or the girls themselves, decide to quit schooling due to the pregnancy, and schools do not always do enough to encourage them to stay, officials say.

"I'm expecting every parent and guardian and everyone else to understand that every child must be assisted by all of us to go to school," Cain Mathema, the education minister in charge of schools, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday.

"Every child whether boy or girl... has a right to go to school in Zimbabwe," he said.