Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Educational Development journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev Zambia’s school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers: Examining impacts beyond re-enrollment Stephanie Simmons Zuilkowski a, ⁎ , Margaret Henning b , Joseph Zulu c , Beatrice Matafwali d a Florida State University, University Center C4600, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306, United States b Keene State University, Joslin House 211, M/S 2903, Keene, NH, 03431, United States c University of Zambia, Ridgeway Campus, Nationalist Road, Lusaka, Zambia d University of Zambia, Great East Road, Lusaka, Zambia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Pregnancy Pregnant students Dropouts Mixed methods research Zambia ABSTRACT The persistently high rate of adolescent pregnancy, particularly among poor girls and in rural areas, is one of the reasons that universal secondary school completion remains elusive in Zambia. We used a mixed methods ap- proach to explore how Zambia’s re-entry policy is related to young mothers’ outcomes beyond re-enrollment in school. We found that girls with knowledge of the policy were less likely to be forced out of school while pregnant and perceived less stigma after delivery. The policy also had the potential to enlist support for girls’ continuation in school, though its implementation often fell short of its potential. 1. Introduction Policies aimed at students who become pregnant vary widely in sub- Saharan Africa (Runhare et al., 2014). In some countries, pregnant girls and student mothers are forced to attend night schools or alternative schools. Some countries’ policies require girls to transfer schools, while others guarantee their right to continue attending the same school. Regardless of the specific nature of the policy, these regulations rarely result in large proportions of young mothers returning to school. Zambia’s school re-entry policy is no exception; just 38% of pregnant girls who leave primary school and 65% of those who leave secondary school return to school after giving birth (Ministry of General Education, 2016). These statistics feed into the persistent school dropout problem in Zambia, with particularly high rates for girls and rural youth. Fewer than one in three Zambian youth complete sec- ondary school (UNESCO, 2016). Low education levels, particularly among women who become mothers, has been associated with a range of poor child outcomes, including malnutrition (Hasan et al., 2016), stunting (Marriott et al., 2012), and developmental delays (de Moura et al., 2010). High dropout levels thus feed into cycles of intergenera- tional poverty. Zambia’s re-entry policy for girls who become pregnant while in school, described in detail below, went into effect in 1997. It is largely progressive on paper, aiming to marshal support from the girl’s family, her partner, and her school in order to make successful re-enrollment more likely. However, beyond the disappointing surface statistics that suggest the policy is failing to close the enrollment and completion gaps for young mothers (Ministry of General Education, 2016), there has been little investigation of how this policy affects the decisions that young mothers make regarding schooling. For example, does it impact how long they remain in school while pregnant, the degree of support young mothers receive as mothers and students, or how accepted they feel by their communities? The policy may have effects—intended or unintended—that fall beyond the simple comparison of enrollment percentages. This study aims to fill this gap with an examination of Zambia’s school re-entry policy in practice. We look beyond the re-enrollment statistics and explore whether the policy is associated with the cir- cumstances of school leaving during pregnancy, perceived stigma after the birth, and, more holistically, the level of supports available to young mothers in their families and communities. 2. Background and context 2.1. Adolescent pregnancy and education Adolescent pregnancy is widespread in Zambia; nearly a third of girls have been pregnant by age 19 (Population Council, UNFPA, and Republic of Zambia, 2017). The rate is 45% among the poorest quintile. One quarter of babies in Zambia are born to mothers ages 15–19 years, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2018.11.001 Received 11 June 2018; Received in revised form 18 September 2018; Accepted 9 November 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: szuilkowski@lsi.fsu.edu (S.S. Zuilkowski), mhenning@keene.edu (M. Henning), josephmumbazulu@gmail.com (J. Zulu), bmatafwali2000@yahoo.com (B. Matafwali). International Journal of Educational Development 64 (2019) 1–7 Available online 20 November 2018 0738-0593/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T