Giving Compass' Take:

•  The author discusses the alarmingly high teen pregnancy rates in Jamaica and the unfortunate educational consequences for young mothers who may not be allowed to return to school. 

• How can local organizations and nonprofits subsidize education and schooling for teen mothers in Jamaica?

• Read about how teen mothers in the U.S. also need more support when it comes to their education.  

Teenage pregnancy is a challenge for many nations, including in my home country of Jamaica, where the teenage pregnancy rate in 2008 was the fourth highest in the Caribbean, with 72 out of 1,000 adolescent girls becoming mothers.

Jamaica’s 1980 education regulations stipulate that a girl who becomes pregnant “shall be excluded from attending the [public educational] institution” but may be permitted to return after the birth of her baby upon the discretion of the Education Minister.

Poverty, limited sexual reproductive health education, and sexual abuse were factors behind that stark statistic nine years ago. This rate declined to 59 out of 1,000 adolescent girls in 2015, a rate that is still far too high when compared to regional and global averages.

For Jamaica, education access is often dismissed as a non-issue, particularly since gender parity and universal enrolment have been achieved. Yet teenage pregnancy is one of the main factors that prevent educational participation and completion for many girls.

Read the full article on teen mothers in Jamacia by Dasmine Kennedy at Brookings