A research report submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education by combination of coursework and research. Johannesburg, 2016. / As a fulfillment to the Constitutional obligation which is to offer education as human right to everyone, Lesotho has introduced free primary education in schools. This is also a commitment to the Education For All movement. Despite the initiative the country has taken, there are some vulnerable groups of children who are deprived of their right to education. These include girls who fall pregnant while still pursuing their studies. These girls are faced with challenges which include being expelled from school when they fall pregnant. Those who are allowed to continue their studies, they experience marginalisation that may result into exclusion from school. This qualitative study has therefore investigated marginalisation that is experienced by the girls who fall pregnant while still at high school in the Maseru district of Lesotho. The study was conducted through interviews with teachers, pregnant girls, and girls who have babies and still in school, and girls who should be in school, but have been asked to leave school. The findings revealed that girls in schools and out of school are marginalised for similar and different reasons by their teachers, parents and peers. Teachers use language and labeling which humiliate these girls while parents neglect their daughters when they fall pregnant. Rejection by peers has also been revealed in this study. All these marginalisation experiences could be attributed to the silence of the Lesotho Educational Act about teenage pregnancy. Schools in the sample have different policies with regard to teenage pregnancy. As a result some schools exclude teenage mothers from education. / MT2017

A qualitative, descriptive, contextual study design was used to describe the role of antenatal services in supporting teenage pregnant girls in Leribe district of Lesotho. The study population consisted of all teenage pregnant girls between 13-19 years of age. Non-probability convenient sampling technique was used to identify potential participants. Data was collected by means of tape-recorded in-depth individual, semistructured interviews and analysed using Tesch’s descriptive method of qualitative data analysis (Creswell 2009:186). The findings of this study revealed that teenage pregnant girls require comprehensive antenatal services that are sensitive to the needs related to their age. Strategies in which antenatal services can be strengthened to support teenage pregnant girls better were described / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

A qualitative, descriptive, contextual study design was used to describe the role of antenatal services in supporting teenage pregnant girls in Leribe district of Lesotho. The study population consisted of all teenage pregnant girls between 13-19 years of age. Non-probability convenient sampling technique was used to identify potential participants. Data was collected by means of tape-recorded in-depth individual, semistructured interviews and analysed using Tesch’s descriptive method of qualitative data analysis (Creswell 2009:186). The findings of this study revealed that teenage pregnant girls require comprehensive antenatal services that are sensitive to the needs related to their age. Strategies in which antenatal services can be strengthened to support teenage pregnant girls better were described / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)