Early marriage and pregnancy force Tanzanian girls out of school
Girls at a school in the Tanzanian archipelago of 听Zanzibar
Sikudhani Kimweri was the only girl from her primary school who went on to Bunju secondary school in eastern Tanzania国产视频檚 Bagamayo district. Many of the other girls had to get married instead.
国产视频淭here is no value on education in our village, very few girls finish school,国产视频 said Kimweri, now 20, in an interview.
Her struggle to complete her education against the wishes of her father and under pressure to help her mother at work reflects entrenched gender inequality in Tanzania, where adolescent girls face many hurdles to their development.
While Tanzania has made significant progress overall in primary school enrolment, few girls, especially in rural areas, complete their secondary education because of early marriage, teenage pregnancy and poverty, women国产视频檚 rights campaigners say.
Primary school enrolment for males and females is almost the same in Tanzania but secondary school enrolment for girls lags far behind that of boys.
Tanzania国产视频檚 Demographic Health Survey Data for 2010 shows that among young people aged between 20 and 24, less than 20% of women had graduated from secondary school, compared with 32% of men.
In the same age group, 20% of women had no education at all, compared with less than 10% of men.
Picture: Global Observatory for Inclusion
Despite excelling at school, Kimweri 国产视频 the only girl in her family 国产视频 was certain that her father, a struggling mason, would marry her off, ending her ambition to become a lawyer.
She recalled how her father tried secretly to take her out of school when she was in sixth grade, so that she could marry.
国产视频淢y mother fiercely opposed it and she defended my bid to finish school,国产视频 she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Her parents later separated and her father refused to support her education even though she was doing well in exams.
In neighbouring Zinga village, Zena Mkumbo, 19, sat under a stall with a thatched roof, sifting through charcoal which she packs into plastic bags to sell for 2500 shillings ($1) a bag, with her two-year-old daughter strapped to her back.
国产视频淲hen I got pregnant, I was expelled from school and that was the end of everything,国产视频 she said. 国产视频淚 have to do this to earn something to feed my daughter.国产视频
Mkumbo said her dismissal from school had crushed her dreams and narrowed her chances of becoming a nurse.
国产视频淚 have no future, but there is no way that I could go back to school,国产视频 said Mkumbo, distraught as she recalled how her father had thrown her out of home after she fell pregnant.
国产视频淚 was too young to give birth, my aunt who took me was very helpful during my delivery,国产视频 she said.
Mkumbo国产视频檚 story is all too common in Tanzania, which has one of the world国产视频檚 highest adolescent pregnancy and birth rates. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) one in six girls aged between 15 and 19 falls pregnant.
国产视频淏ecause of low awareness, a lot of girls are lured with small gifts and that is why they end up pregnant,国产视频 Kimweri said.
In rural areas, girls who fall pregnant before marriage, often because of a lack of information on reproductive health, may be stigmatised by relatives, campaigners said.
Mkumbo said: 国产视频淲hen you accidentally fall pregnant, everybody in the society condemn you as a sinner.国产视频
While underage sex is criminalised in Tanzania, parents may marry off their daughters using a special privilege granted by a 1971 marriage law, which allows a girl as young as 15 to marry with parental or the court国产视频檚 consent.
In response to the problems that prevent adolescent girls in Tanzania, Malawi and other countries around the world from completing their schooling and fulfilling their potential, the United States launched Let Girls Learn in March 2015.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) says it has helped train hundreds of thousands of children globally and provided millions of textbooks as part of the initiative.
国产视频淲e know that to educate a girl is to build a healthier family, a stronger community, and, over the long term, a more resilient nation,国产视频 said USAID Tanzania国产视频檚 Acting Mission Director Daniel Moore.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, covers humanitarian news, women国产视频檚 rights, corruption and climate change.