3: Disrupting Normative Practices: Education Policy, Pregnancy, and Societal Norms

Chapter 3 begins with the voice of Martha who got pregnant when she was 17 years old, and she narrates her complex realities of pain, disappointment, hope, and gratitude after she found out that she was pregnant while in secondary school. Martha’s story situates this chapter’s focus on examining the interplay between policies, cultural norms, and in-school pregnancy in the African context while simultaneously recognizing the heterogeneity in young women’s lived experiences.

To position education policy within this discourse, the author discusses and examines the typology of in-school pregnancy-related policies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and interrogates the political responses to in-school pregnancy. The chapter situates readers by discussing the SSA policy contexts and complex post-colonial realities that pregnant and mothering students experience, which facilitate a push-out from school. At the same time, despite the negative forces at play, the young women also point to stories of hope—hope for a good future, hope in God, and the joys of motherhood and companionship with their new babies. The chapter concludes by highlighting the ways in which (communitarian) continuation-oriented schooling post-pregnancy disrupts normative educational practices.