Beyond Cost: The Dilemma Teen Mothers Face in Returning to School

• In Event: Empowering parents and communities through education and technology

Proposal

According to Kenya’s Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS, 2022), approximately 15% of Kenyan girls between the ages of 15 and 19 have experienced pregnancy. Poverty and a lack of education are associated with higher rates of teen pregnancy, with 4 in 10 adolescent girls aged 15-19 years with no education reporting pregnancy, compared to only 5% of girls and young women who have completed secondary school (KDHS 2022). We know this is a challenge that disproportionally affects the poorest girls, with 21% of adolescent girls aged 15-19 in the lowest wealth quintile reporting pregnancy, compared to only 8% in the highest wealth quintile (KDHS 2022). The actual numbers are staggering. Within the first half of 2023 alone, there were 110,821 teenage pregnancies in Kenya, with 6,110 mothers aged 10-14, and 104,711 aged 15-19 (Magdaline, 2023). Teenage pregnancy remains a critical issue in Kenya, with significant implications for the educational prospects and future opportunities of young mothers.

Despite various interventions by government and non-government actors to re-enroll teen mothers in school, success has been mixed. Although financial constraints are often cited as the most prohibitive barrier to their re-entry, our research finds that the obstacles extend far beyond cost. This paper highlights the research findings from a recent pilot program aim to re-enroll teenage mothers into school, delivered by the Nairobi-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO). The pilot program reached 105 adolescent girls aged 14-19 in two urban informal settlements of Nairobi: Kibera and Mathare slums, between July and November. It covered covered the full costs of secondary school tuition in local government schools, as well as school uniform, sanitary pads, and child care costs.

Despite the pilot program covering 100% of the costs related to attending secondary school, only 47.8% of identified teen mothers were willing to return to school. This paper aligns itself to two theories: Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System theory and John Cassel & Sidney Cobb’s Social Support theory. The first theory explains how an individual's development is influenced by their surrounding environmental systems, and is applied to how teen mothers’ ability to return to school is influenced by multiple interconnected systems e.g. support from their family, the attitude of their peers, and their interactions with teachers, relationship between their home responsibilities and their school environment (e.g balancing childcare and schoolwork), policies at school that either support or hinder their ability to attend school. The second theory explains how social support networks affect an individual’s wellbeing. Held back by social stigma and discrimination both from peers and educational institutions, teen mothers were faced with the dilemma of balancing parenting, school work and providing for their family. Most of the teen mothers experienced significant self-doubt about their ability to succeed in school, coupled with anxiety, and, sometimes, post-natal depression - exacerbating the insufficient and ineffective school policies accommodating young mothers, and lack of holistic support.

This paper uses the data from SHOFCO’s pilot program to explore the complexities in re-enrolling teen mothers into secondary school in Kenya, evaluates existing efforts to mitigate the cost of re-enrollment, and provides sign-posts to other evidence-informed interventions to overcome the identified barriers. In addition to discussing strategies for improving school re-entry, the paper also considers alternative pathways for teen mothers who may choose not to return to formal education. Digital solutions approach could provide a more flexible alternative to engaging teen mothers outside school. Teen mothers within slums have fair access to technology – smartphones – which can be a means to meaningful engagement, for instance, online supplementary models that can offer teen mothers with the opportunity to balance education and childcare more effectively; social WhatsApp groups as well as apps that engage them in child care and well-being, as well as financial literacy.

Using data from SHOFCO’s Youth Voice program, this paper will explore alternative vocational and training opportunities that can empower young mothers to achieve economic independence and personal success, whilst taking into account their personal circumstances. By highlighting SHOFCO’s model as a case study for ultra-poor urban adolescent girls, the paper provides a holistic view of the possible trajectories and required support for teen mothers.

Key words: Girls’ education, secondary education, non-formal education, Africa, Teen Mothers.

Authors

• Daniel Omaya, SHINING HOPE FOR COMMUNITIES

• Faith Ndunge Mwikya-Muisyo, SHINING HOPE FOR COMMUNITIES