Should pregnant students leave university?

Nov 12, 2006

EXPECTATIONS of students joining university for undergraduate courses are often high. Many of them looking forward to shading off the trail of teachers and prefects, but forgetting that universities also have regulations governing students.

EXPECTATIONS of students joining university for undergraduate courses are often high. Many of them looking forward to shading off the trail of teachers and prefects, but forgetting that universities also have regulations governing students.
Perhaps prompted by the excitement of being at university, students often find themselves on the wrong side of the regulations. So it was with the 18 unmarried young women found pregnant and expelled from the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) recently. According to the University Coordinator, Abbas Samaali, many of those expelled were first year students who had joined the university when they were already pregnant. Their expulsion followed an impromptu medical examination carried out at the Mbale campus, prompted by an incident where a student aborted and dumped the foetus in a bathrooms before disappearing from the campus.
The Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Aggrey Kibenge, says institutions are free to set regulations for students. Such rules are, however supposed to be in conformity with human rights and also known to the students before admission.
“We do not prescribe regulations for institutions. That would be micro-managing. We trust the administrations of the institutions which we feel make regulations to keep the standards and names of their universities.”
“If the expulsions border on abuse or denial of individual rights, we shall take action, but if it is just a breach of university regulations, then we shall let it go.”
Former Uganda Law Society (ULS) president, Moses Adriko, says IUIU should be given the benefit of doubt. “Every institution has rules that govern students’ conduct and there also ought to be some remedies. If there has been an infringement on such rules of conduct, I am sure the university administration may have explored remedies available before resorting to expelling the students.”
A married student at IUIU Kibuli campus says that before admission last year, she received a form to which a list of regulations was attached. The regulations provide that where a pregnant student is unmarried, she faces suspension or expulsion, depending on the circumstances.
“Each applicant is supposed to stay with the form for two weeks to consider the regulations before signing acceptance and returning them to the respective campus,” the student said. However, the source said some female applicants indicate on the form that they are married, whereas not.
She says married pregnant students are given care when they get complications. “For instance, a female student developed some problems with a pregnancy and the university provided her special transport to the hospital because she was married.”
Since pregnancy is not necessarily a disease, it is considered generally acceptable, in case of university students. The affected students are considered mature but universities tend to give them particular counselling in respect of their health and studies.
At Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK, special advice is provided to students who become pregnant. The university’s brochure states that there is need for guidance on the management of the studies of the expecting mother during and after the pregnancy.
“Some students may also want to discuss other issues in relation to their pregnancy, and the University Counselling Service is available for this purpose. It is appreciated that each student’s circumstances and needs are different, and that there will be individual responses within the general advice and guidance offered here,” the brochure states.
The spokesman of Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi, Joseph Ssengooba, says pregnant students are expected to be married. Unmarried pregnant students are expected to notify the university administration of their condition in order to get counselling and help to continue with the studies.
“We do not expel them. However, we have rules governing students including one that they shall desist from visiting rooms of students of the opposite sex beyond 10:00pm.” He admits that flouting the rule would lead to expulsion.
Kyambogo University spokesman, James Bulenzibuto, says female and male students are not supposed to visit each other beyond 10:00pm. “We would take action on a case as it comes, but certainly we would not expel the pregnant student because we consider them mature enough to understand what they have gone into.”
However, he adds that the university does not allow pregnant students to continue residing in the halls of residence for fear of complications associated with pregnancies.
At the Uganda Christian University (UCU), if a student is found pregnant, her case is referred to the disciplinary committee.
UCU public relations officer, Vincent Mugaba, says there have been no instances of expulsion of pregnant students. However, a young woman who becomes pregnant is forced to take a ‘dead year’ (year of leave from school). If the man responsible for the pregnancy is also a student at the university, he will also take a ‘dead year’.
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