Education for girl-mothers in Kenya: the influence of faith and gender norms on school re-entry

Kenya has one of Africa’s strongest legal frameworks for protecting the education rights of girl-mothers. Yet, this constitutional right to education has not translated into real opportunities for girl-mothers. Recent official reports show teenage pregnancy affects 15% of girls aged 15 to 19 across Kenya and remains a primary driver of school dropout.

Drawing on qualitative research from three counties with different social and religious contexts, Kajiado (Mashuru), Nairobi (Kibra) and Nyeri (Tetu), this study examines why there is an implementation gap between the aims of Kenya’s 2020 Re-entry Policy and its realisation for girl-mothers.

The report finds 57% of girl-mothers had not returned to school after having their babies and shows that implementation challenges are shaped not only by administrative gaps, but also by faith-based beliefs and gender norms that influence decisions in schools, homes, places of worship and communities. The report further identifies recommendations for national policy, curriculum and teacher development systems, as well as institutional and community practice and research.

Key messages

• Local school and religious authorities often frame pregnancy as a spiritual failure rather than a crisis needing support. This undermines a girl’s unconditional legal right to education, which is seen as a ‘conditional permit’ that she must earn through repentance.
• There is a significant and persistent double standard where the father of a girl’s baby – often a perpetrator of child sexual abuse – is protected by institutional silence. By bypassing legal reporting requirements, the system forces the girl to carry the entire moral and social burden alone.  
• The 2020 National Guidelines for School Re-entry ignore the physical reality of a girl’s postpartum body, making no provision for her to breastfeed her child or her need for flexible exam schedules. This makes school a place of physical strain rather than recovery.  
• Girl-mothers are expected to balance a ‘triple shift’ of school, childcare and housework simultaneously, often as a form of punishment for their pregnancy. If the weight of care is not shared by the community or family, a sustained return to education remains out of reach.  
• Schools and faith groups consistently replace practical sexuality education with moral instruction. This structural silence about sex and sexuality expects girls to make responsible choices without having any actual information about their bodies or rights.
• Despite these failures, some teachers and leaders do prioritise restoration over judgement – demonstrating that re-entry can work. By shifting from moral surveillance to restorative mentorship, these individuals provide a blueprint for a system that recognises education as an unconditional right rather than a moral negotiation.