The government of Sierra Leone has now made it a policy that girls who get pregnant while attending school must be allowed to continue and be supported. Gone are the days when girls dropped out of school in their numbers.
However, on the 14th of November 2022 Street, Child SL Bo office at a stakeholder’s meeting helped out 52 teenage mothers so that they continue their schooling. The ceremony was graced by the section chief of Simbaru, Santigie Bangura, a representative from the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Line Officer, Bo West Division police.
It was shared by the Program Coordinator, Street Child SL Bo office, Hawa Shour. In her opening address, Hawa Shour told the beneficiaries that ” it is a three- year program and that this is the third and final year.”
She encouraged the beneficiaries to make the best use of the opportunity. Martha Idris Feika of the Social Welfare ministry told the beneficiaries that ” it is not an open door for you to get another pregnancy but to empower you to get a better stand for your future.” That Street Child SL is doing it because they need to continue in school.
Each beneficiary teen mother received a bag of rice, baby food and hygiene kits full of sanitary pads. Responding, chief Santigie Bangura expressed heartfelt gratitude to Street Child SL for helping his subjects and told them to make better use of the donations. Asked if they have been monitoring the impact it has created on these teen mothers, Hawa Shour said that ” it has kept the retention up in schools.”
She, therefore, calls on government and other NGOs to help reach out to areas that Street Child SL could not cover. A vote of thanks was given by one of the beneficiaries.