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Ban on pregnant school girls is raising eyebrows

Jackie Leonard Lomboma is using her experience to bring help to girls who fell victim to early pregnancy.
Jackie Leonard Lomboma.
Jackie Leonard Lomboma.

Jackie Leonard Lomboma, a teenage mother who got pregnant at the age of 15 is unimpressed by the ban in Tanzania, preventing female teens from continuing their education soon as they are with child.

This is following an announcement by Tanzanian president, John Magufuli, restricting girls who have been impregnated from returning to school.

Lomboma, who spoke in an interview with the BBC News described the action as disappointing.

She believes students who dropped out from schools should receive more attention from the government as opposed to what currently obtains.

"It is a big disappointment to hear the president say that girls who get pregnant should not be allowed back to school.

"I am very disappointed because Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world and in order for us to overcome this we need to empower underprivileged groups like teenage mothers with education.

"The biggest problem is that we are focusing on students that are in the school system, and not on the many who have already dropped out.

"We have ignored this group who need help the most and acting like this not a crisis - we are wrong.

"I was empowered through education, that is why today I am supporting other girls to stand up again."

ALSO READ: 'A politician impregnated me, abandoned me with his child'

Following her early and unplanned venture into motherhood, Lomboma has sought to use her unfortunate experience to offer help to people like her.

She runs a centre for teenage mothers in Tanzania's eastern city of Morogoro, where she has become a beacon of hope for people of her gender.

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