| dc.description.abstract | Background: The Ugandan government enacted the revised re-entry guidelines that included the re-entry aspect after an increase in the number of cases of teenage pregnancies as a result of school closures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 8% of girls who dropped out of school were allowed to re-enroll although the re-entry guidelines were in place.
Objective: To explore stakeholders’ experiences regarding the implementation of the revised re-entry guidelines for teenage mothers into secondary schools post-COVID-19.
Methodology: A Phenomenological study was conducted in five secondary schools in Mbale city and district between June and July 2023. It was conducted using qualitative approaches such as in-depth interview guides with teenage mothers and key informant interviews with district leaders and school administrators to gain insight into how the revised re-entry guidelines were being utilized for the benefit of teenage mothers in secondary schools with a small component of quantitative data using a data extraction tool. Data were collected from 20 re-enrolled teenage mothers, 4 district leaders and 6 teachers. Data was analysed using Atlas. ti 9 which involved labelling texts with different code group names. Codes were then linked to form categories from where themes were generated, and results were reported based on themes.
Results: The majority of the teenage mothers’ re-entry into school was influenced by parental and school support post-COVID-19. Despite the existence of the re-entry guidelines the barriers that affected teenage mothers’ re-entry into school included stigmatization and peer discrimination, dual responsibility and time management. There was no data at the district level related to teenage mothers’ re-entry although some data was obtained from schools visited, there were a lot of gaps and missing information as the majority of schools lacked systematic tracking and documentation of teenage mothers’ re-entry for the past four years. Head teachers and senior women teachers were not trained on the re-entry guidelines as the majority were oblivious to their specific roles and the majority of schools did not have a copy of the re-entry guidelines for reference.
Conclusion: District leaders acknowledged inadequate dissemination of the re-entry guidelines in schools although some data was obtained from schools with a lot of gaps and missing information, no documentation of teenage mothers' re-entry. Therefore, the responsible stakeholders at the district who were tasked to compile and conduct regular evaluations should re-emphasize the importance of this data for decision-making for the benefit of teenage mothers.
Special attention is crucial for teenage mothers in schools in the form of continuous psychosocial support after re-entry into school. | en_US |
