Tanzania: Pregnant Student Ban Harms Thousands

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In Tanzania, girls undergo mandatory pregnancy testing as part of the country’s policy to ban pregnant students and adolescent mothers from attending public schools. If a student is found to be pregnant, they are expelled or forced to drop out. In a recent review of the policy, Human Rights Watch cited a report from the Center which found that over 55,000 girls had been denied their right to education between 2003 and 2011. The report also found that, in 2013, expulsion as a result of pregnancy was a nearly universal phenomenon in Tanzania.