Abstract
This article investigates some of the constraining factors experienced by 16
school-going mothers in the Okalongo circuit, Namibia. This was a qualitative
phenomenological study, conducted through in-depth individual interviews,
focus group discussions, and reflective journals with 16 school-going mothers
between the ages of 17 and 20, purposively selected from three different public
rural schools. This qualitative, phenomenological study analyses, through
feminist and intersectionality theory, the lived experiences of these young
mothers as they encounter the traditional, patriarchal attitudes and practices of
the Ovambadja community because these girls fell pregnant before their formal,
cultural initiation. The article documents, through the voices of the young
women themselves, the numerous constraints they experienced and overcame
in their determination to complete their schooling. The findings show that,
aside from the deeply held destructive patriarchal beliefs that significantly
constrain and harm the mother-learners, the Namibian Learners Pregnancy
Policy, which is intended to protect and ensure pregnant learners and motherlearners
complete their schooling, is not being properly or effectively
implemented. The study recommends an increase in efforts at the national level
in Namibia to raise awareness among members of parliament, school
administrators and principals, and all policymakers to develop better monitoring
systems that will improve policy implementation in schools.