Dilemma of pregnant girls at Uganda Christian University

At that time, the now 25-year-old mother of one says that it was the wrong time to have a baby because she had just been admitted at Uganda Christian University (UCU) in Mukono where there is a policy that penalises girls who get pregnant out of wedlock.

“I remember crying endlessly because I did not know whom I could turn to for help,” she explains.

Usually in such complicated situations, the first question that crosses the minds of many girls is whether to terminate the pregnancy or not. She opted to terminate it. But that was a mere thought that could not come to pass.
What saved the situation was that a nurse she had visited to assist her abort, discouraged her from doing it.

“I remember her looking straight into my eyes and asking me why I was going to kill an innocent child,” she states adding: “She also told me that there were slim chances of my survival in the process because of over bleeding. Much as I would survive, I would end up eventually becoming infertile,” Nakyeyune adds.

After that, Nakyeyune finally made the decision of keeping the baby. This marked the beginning of her life’s misery at a Christian-founded university that prohibits pregnancy out of wedlock.

“I did my best to hide the then two months’ pregnancy because I did not want any university administrator to find out. I was scared to death that if anyone of them found out, I would be discontinued from the University,” she confesses.
She continued studying. But she wore very baggy clothes much as it felt awkward. Her friends got unusually concerned about her dress code but she brushed them away saying, she had a chronic illness that permitted her to wear fitting dresses. She did this until she was due.

She missed classes for a few weeks claiming that she was unwell-in reality, she had gone away to deliver. Just a few weeks after having the baby, she went back to campus and resumed her studies.
Nakyeyune happens to be among some of the few girls at the university in recent years that have been fortunate to continue and finish their studies despite the university code of conduct regulation on marriage and pregnancy that is mentioned on page 11 of the institution’s conduct handbook.

It is stated that pregnancy out of wedlock is an offence, whether it is committed by a female student who gets pregnant, or a male student who impregnates her.

What next?
While the Minister of Education and Sports Jessica Alupo has, on several occasions, reiterated the stand that girls who get pregnant while in school should not be expelled, whether it happens at primary, secondary or university level, many institutions still maintain that these girls are a ‘bad apple’ that will spoil the rest.

The issue of girls being expelled from university particularly raises questions since many assume that they are adults who have the ability to make their own decisions.

With a case such as Nakyeyune’s where a girl gets pregnant and is able to continue with her studies without being penalised, one wonders if the marriage and pregnancy rule jotted in the university’s code of conduct handbook still applies.

Gloria Kiconco, UCU’s acting public relations officer (PRO) states that there may be reluctance in the enforcement of the policy on the challenge is that there is no specified punishment under the code of conduct.

“The punishment is usually determined by the university disciplinary committee. In such a case, it is not easy for the committee to give penalties that are so harsh,” Kiconco states.

The PRO adds that the university is divided between upholding the university policy in such matters and being lenient to the rest of the community.
“I am very optimistic that very soon, the university will have a policy that harmonises the two,” she states.

On how the university is currently helping such students, Kiconco says that the university offers counselling and guidance to the affected students.
“If the university became rigid, it would turn out dangerous as some girls would opt for atrocious acts like abortion so as to continue with their studies,” says Kiconco. This is criminal.

“We are aware that some get pregnant unconsciously may be through rape and ignorance. Others engage in unprotected sexual intercourse because they are in a sexually active stage. So we want to find a way of helping such girls,” Kiconco explains.

As much as this therapy provided to the students may be helpful, there are those who shun it.

One of the expecting female students at the university who preferred to use the pseudo name Diana states that she does not attend the counselling and guidance sessions provided at the university. This is because of the existing policy that penalises girls who get pregnant while out of wedlock.

“If it was not for that policy, I would gladly go for those sessions but I cannot because of fear,” she states.
Joseph Musaalo, a counsellor at the university reveals that indeed there are some of such girls who fear to go for counselling because of this rule.
“They are often stigmatised and psychologically tortured because of the policy,” he explains.

What he advises them to do therefore is gather courage and seek counselling because it empowers them to cope and handle the situation.
“Whenever the students come to us, we normally advise them accordingly on how to face the problem instead of running away from it,” Musaalo explains, adding that, a problem shared is half solved.

Everything they share with the counsellor is kept discreet.
As some of the girls make the decision of keeping the pregnancy even amidst the policy, others have gone ahead to take the atrocious shortcut of visiting some of the clinics outside the university to ask medical personnel to assist in terminating the pregnancy.

One of the nurses who preferred anonymity and operates from Bugujju, a parish in Mukono district states that on different occasions, she has had girls coming to her asking for help to abort.

Because abortion is illegal, when students go to the nurse, she sends them away. Even then, it is criminal to be an accomplice in such an act which may lead to closure of her clinic.

The medical practitioner recalls a time when one of the university girls who was about three months pregnant tried to bribe her with a huge sum of money.
“She was a first year university student who was willing to pay Shs500,000 for killing the inncocent life,” she explains.

The nurse adds that when she refused to perform the act, the student went ahead and asked for Misoprostol tablets. The drugs are used to induce either labour or an abortion.

“I refused to give them to her because professionally, we are not allowed to administer them directly to individuals unless they have been prescribed,” she explains.

How students go about it?
As regards how many cases received at her clinic, the nurse says about three girls come for abortion every semester. This is just one of the many clinics around the university where university girls seek abortion services. Other clinics might even be receiving more numbers.

She states that however, at least the numbers have reduced compared to the past five years.

“Back then, the cases were more. In a semester, for instance, I could receive about eight girls coming to me that they want help to terminate the pregnancy,” she explains.

She believes that probably the mass sensitisation campaign, exposure to information as well as the counselling programmes in the university has helped to curb down the vice.

UCU is not the only university that has a strict morally oriented policy against unmarried girls who get pregnant. Others like Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) prescribe that, in line with the teachings of the Koran, a girl who gets pregnant out of wedlock commits a sin and must be excluded. In this case, the student is expelled.

Human rights violation?
However, this seems to be in contrast to the women’s rights to education, privacy and reproductive health, as enshrined in the 1995 Uganda constitution. \
Article 12(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) outlines the steps that should be taken by states parties for the realisation of the right to health. These include: the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and infant mortality and in effect improvement of maternal health.

In order to prevent discrimination against women on grounds of marriage or maternity, and to ensure their effective right to work, States Parties are obliged to take appropriate measures: to prohibit, subject to the imposition of sanctions, dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy or of maternity leave and discrimination in dismissals on the basis of marital status.

States are also required to introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without loss of former employment, seniority or social allowances.

The Convention further obliges states to encourage the provision of the necessary supporting social services to enable parents to combine family obligations with work responsibilities and participation in public life, in particular through promoting the establishment and development of a network of child-care facilities and to provide special protection to women during pregnancy in types of work proved to be harmful to them.Uganda is party to this international human rights instrument.

While the Constitution of Uganda guarantees the right to practice whatever religion or culture of one’s choice, it explicitly prohibits any culture or practice that discriminates against women. Anne Kabasweka, a city lawyer, refutes the argument that a student contracts to follow these school rules to the dot, saying these are standard contracts, in which the student does not have a genuine say.

Besides, she adds, one cannot contract outside of the law. The law prohibits such unfair exclusion from accessing education.

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