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The Program Getting Zambia's Young Mothers Back in School
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Every day, Agness Musohda has chores to do. She will wash dishes, clean the house, and care for her 3-year-old son, Kylie.
When she finds some free time, she picks up a tablet and does schoolwork. She goes to school three days a week, leaving her son in the care of her sister.
Musohda, 21, is enrolled in the Digital School Project—a pilot initiative launched by the nonprofits Education Above All Foundation and VVOB with the Zambia's Ministry of Education—aimed at helping Zambia's dropouts return to education.
Zambia has made significant strides in improving access to education since the government made education free in 2021. But girls still drop out of school at much higher rates than boys, with more than 16,000 girls reportedly leaving education every year due to early marriages and teenage pregnancies.
The southern African country's teenage pregnancy rate is one of the highest in the world, and one in three women become mothers by the age of 18, according to the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2018.
Musohda said she dropped out of school at 17 because her family faced financial hardship and she helped earn money by working as a maid.
But those difficulties became worse after she had her baby at 19. After that, chances of her being able to return to education seemed slim until she heard about the Digital School Project.
She said during an interview when Newsweek visited her there in July that she was "really happy" the project allows her to continue her studies while balancing her duties at home
Agness Musohda, pictured with her mother Mary Lungu and three-year-old son, Kylie, at their home in Lusaka.
Agness Musohda, pictured with her mother Mary Lungu and three-year-old son, Kylie, at their home in Lusaka.
Khaleda Rahman
"It can help me to change the future of my son as well as my siblings," she said, adding that she hopes to become a teacher.
Unlike traditional schooling, the project supports students in three districts—Lusaka, Kafue and Chibombo—by providing them with shared tablets—one between three—that come loaded with content aligned with Zambia's national curriculum. They also attend in-person lessons at schools with trained facilitators and coordinators three days a week.
The aim is to prepare them for Zambia's national Grade 7 examination, which certifies completion of primary education, and allow them to go on to further formal education or vocational training.
Young people in Zambia face numerous barriers in continuing their education, including poverty and having to travel long distances to get to school.
Kantu KomaKoma, a coordinator at Mtendere Primary School in Lusaka, said she has seen how the program has helped many young mothers return to school.
"When you look at our area around here, you find that the majority of the learners who drop out of school are girls," she told Newsweek. "We are seeing others who dropped out of school because of teenage pregnancies... coming back to enroll."
'A Flexible Pathway'
Girls drop out of school in higher numbers because "social and cultural norms often prioritize domestic roles over education, which is further compounded by early marriage and pregnancy, gender-based violence and limited access to schooling," said Sarah Wragg, head of innovation at Education Above All. "These barriers then reinforce cycles of poverty and inequality, undermining long term social and economic development."
Christine Redmond, the global director of engagement and communication at VVOB told Newsweek that "for young mothers, returning to school is rarely about a lack of ambition, it's about a lack of opportunity."
The Digital School Project "recognizes their determination and makes space for it, offering a flexible pathway that works around the realities of their lives," Redmond said. "These girls and young women are choosing to re-enter education for themselves and their children, and we hope that the impact of that choice will be felt for generations."
Another project implemented by Education Above All Foundation, in partnership with World Vision, is helping young mothers continue their education in the rural Namwala District, one of the most marginalized areas of the country.
Precious Himweeba, 22, dropped out of school after becoming pregnant at 15 and getting married.
Precious Himweeba, 22, dropped out of school after becoming pregnant at 15 and getting married.
Khaleda Rahman
The Empowering Vulnerable Children with Education (EVE) Project, an initiative implemented by the foundation's Educate A Child program and the nonprofit World Vision in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, aims to help 7,000 children at high risk of dropping out. Project officials told Newsweek that not only has that target been reached before the program's later this year, but 1,000 children who were out of school altogether have also been brought back.
They include Precious Himweeba, 22, who dropped out after becoming pregnant at 15 and getting married.
Though much older than her classmates, Himweeba is determined to stay in school so that she can become a nurse in the future.
It's important for young mothers to get an education, she told Newsweek through a translator. "When you get an education, you have your own money and you will be able to support yourself."
The project is also working to change the mindset of local communities about the value of educating girls, said Matrida Mukombo, maternal child health and nutrition coordinator at World Vision Zambia, told Newsweek.
"We are talking to these community members and trying to work with them to change their mindset," she said.
Hope for the Future
Musohda said she encourages other young mothers to return to education and not lose hope that they can change their lives. "Once you lose hope, you cannot achieve and remove the fear which you have," she said. "If you can conquer the fear, you can achieve what you want."
Her mother Mary Lungu, who also has seven other children, also became pregnant as a teenager.
Asked why she encouraged her daughter to return to school, she said she wanted to break a generational cycle.
"Agness' story was going just like mine," she told Newsweek through a translator. "But she is making sure that her future will be different."
