The Gushiegu Midwifery Training School in the Northern Region was thrown into a state of shock when a married student was prevented from taking part in the end-of-semester examination because she was pregnant.
According to some teachers at the school, they were acting on a directive to prevent all pregnant students from taking part in the exams.
The victim, Cecilia Awuni, who was to complete her course on Friday, May 12, 2017 was asked by authorities to go home and return to the school next academic year to complete her program.
The action by the school authorities appears to be against the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s guidelines which clearly does not indicate that pregnant students be sacked.
Meanwhile, Francis Xavier Sosu, lawyer for the victim has hinted of plans to hurl the school before court for the action.
According to him, although the Nursing and Midwifery Training Council is making arrangements for Mrs. Awuni to write her supplementary papers, a formal decision is yet to be communicated to them and his outfit is bent on ensuring that the rights of his client are protected.
“This matter has come to the attention of the Midwifery Council and the council is making the arrangement for her to be able to write her supplementary exams and we welcome that but that has not yet been formally communicated to us.
“I have instruction from my client to issue a writ for the enforcement of her right not be discriminated against under 33 of the 1992 constitution and order 67 CI 47 so we are taking a number steps to make sure that her rights are protected.”
The school has become notorious for turning away pregnant students when they arrive at examination centers to write their exams. Last year, it gained media attention when it sacked some students for being pregnant and denied them the opportunity to write their exams.
Lawyer Xavier-Sosu who again represented those students described it as a”worrying trend”.
“We are surprised that this matter is recurring. It is recurring because some of the principals who do not understand right matters and secondary midwifery councils are not punishing principals who violate the directive to allow these students to write,” he said.
He threatened that if the principal of the school is not appropriately sanctioned, his outfit will be forced to resort to the Human Rights division of the High Court to seek a declaration that, the supposed policy that barred pregnant students of Nursing and Midwifery Colleges from taking part in examinations was unconstitutional and violates the human rights of such students.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
