Student Mothers' Rights In South Africa

Exploring Legal And Policy Options To Address The Rights Of Student Mothers In South African Higher Education.

Introduction

A precise definition of student mother has proved elusive. In this paper, I have defined a student mother as a woman that has given birth while being registered for a variety of courses at a higher education institution in South Africa. Student mothers, especially if they are married, have multiple roles and responsibilities. They juggle studying and motherhood and challenges such as managing time, financial responsibilities, health constraints as well as dealing with the interruptions while studying such as soothing a crying baby, changing a nappy or breastfeeding. This negatively impacts their academic performance. It prevents them from equitable participation. They withdraw from classes, submit incomplete or incompetent assignments, fail to write first opportunity examinations, lack of adequate time for studying and risk academic exclusion. This leads them dropping out of their courses.Duquaine Watson (2007) asserts that ‘there is a conspicuous lack of attention to the experiences of women who are pursuing degrees while raising children’. Although there is a growing literature on this research topic, it appears that there is little research done specifically in South African higher education institutions to address the rights of student mothers in detail. I intend to address the existing gaps and provide recommendations.

The policies and law findings suggest that there are legal obligations on higher education institutions to support educational pursuits of student mothers. This study will explain how the current laws and policies can be developed to support student mothers. This will take form of the following forms of questions:

a) What are the breastfeeding laws and policies put into place for student mothers on campus and whether the laws and policies give effect to the rights of the mother and child?

b) Is there an obligation on higher education institutions to provide childcare centres on campus?

c) Whether the law requires higher education to make provision for online studies to assist student mothers?

Policy And Law Reviews

South Africa has clear constitutional and international obligations such as United Nations International Children’s Emergency Funds. UNICEF article 28 states that children have the right to be raised by their parents if possible. This international agreement was signed in South Africa to improve health and education of children and their mothers. Children’s rights is one of the key areas identified by South African Human Rights Commission. For example, the Children’s Rights Committee has the power to advocate for policy reform and legislation, creating awareness and participating in advancing children’s rights at the domestic, regional and international level. These laws align for example with student pregnancy policy per university. The universities that have student pregnancy policies seek to achieve universal access to higher education and advancing gender equality on campus. The South African Constitution affords everyone the right to higher education, human dignity and equality. For instance, Section 29 (1) (b) of the Constitution provides for the right to further education, which must be progressively available and accessible. In addition, Section 10 of the Constitution is clear that everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected. Further on, Section 9 (1), (2) and (3) when read together provides that everyone has the right to equality.

These fundamental rights read together with various international treaties such as UNICEF have made a positive influence towards ensuring that a pregnant student is protected and afforded academic support during pregnancy, after birth and while breastfeeding. For example, the aim of the Basic Education Rights Handbook is there to allow pupils to continue their education and not drop-out. Not only that, on 02 November 2017, the Policy Officer (Carol Crowsley) approved the Student Pregnancy Policy. As indicated earlier, the policy aims to provide inclusive education in place and to promote equal opportunities and access to education for all.

However, in practice inadequate support for student mothers still exists in South African higher education. For example, the dignity of the student mother is impaired on campus as there is no friendly breastfeeding facility. The breastfeeding student mothers use toilets to breast pump. Student mothers still miss their classes or tutorials because they must drop their children early at creche before they go to campus or leave campus early to fetch their children or need to plan for a nanny which is financially costly. Another example of a challenge that student mothers face is lack of time to fully participate in the in-person examinations or class assessments because their medical appointments that might clash with the class or examination timetable. For instance, some universities in South Africa usually permit deferred examinations to serve as first attempts where the pregnancy or birth prevents the students from taking them at the usual attempt”. However, the deferred policy in most universities does not consider granting deferred tests or examination on the exemption of maternity rights. This inconsistency in the policies implies that South African higher education excludes the rights of the student mother and therefore the laws and policies should be developed. Failure to advance the maternity exemption on the deferred policies decreases learning opportunities on campus which leads to increased higher dropouts for student mother. This raises the question of whether there is an obligation from the higher education to advance student mother rights on campus?

With respect to friendly breastfeeding facilities on campus, Burns and Triandafilidis says that ‘university campuses are long overdue for breastfeeding friendly environment because sustaining breastfeeding requires time and commitment on behalf of the mother as well as study environment’ . I agree with this because student mothers often encounter barriers specifically for breastfeeding on campus which can lead to premature cessation of breastfeeding.

One interesting finding is that The Maternity Protection Act 12 in Germany applies in universities. The aim of this law is to protect the health of the student and her child during the pregnancy, after childbirth and during the breastfeeding period. In South Africa there is a code of good practice that covers maternity issues which is found in the Code of Good Practice on the Protection of Employees during Pregnancy and after the Birth of a Child. Section 87 (1) (b) of the Basic Conditions of Employment issues this code. The International Labour Organisation’s Recommendation 191 simply says that “where practical, provision should be made for the establishment of facilities for breastfeeding under adequate hygienic conditions at or near workplace.’’ Simply put, a toilet is not suitable for this purpose. The ILO suggests facilities should feature cleanliness and accessibility. In other words, a friendly facility would have a space with room to sit down in private, access to clean water and a secure storage place for expressed milk.

In reviewing what breastfeeding legislation, policies and laws are there for student mothers in higher education institutions, very little was found in the literature, and this indicates that a recommendation for a transformation is needed in terms of giving effect to the breastfeeding rights to the student mother on campus. Moving on now to consider childcare centres on campus.

On the question of childcare centres on campus I could not find specific laws and policies that allows higher education to operate creches on campus. However, there are many sources and case studies are available on how universities may have their own policies regarding childcare centres on campus which may be interesting to analyse. For example Section 191-212 of The Children’s Act provides in detail how the child and youth care centres should be operated. According to this Children Act, the law suggests that if reasonable measures or funds are available, higher education can put into effect childcare facilities on campus to assist student mothers.

Interestingly, there is an increase in childcare centres in South African universities. In one of the interviewees conducted by Cebisile Clementine Kubeka, the student mother reported that ‘when her child was born, she had to take full responsibility for him as she was living with him. In the morning she had to take him to creche and every day she had to go back home before two, because her son comes back from school around two.’ The case reported here illustrates that the allocation of time towards her academics was affected. This then brings the need for having childcare centres on campus. For example, another finding that stands out from the results of on childcare centres on campus reported on 1 September 2022 was the reopening of childcare at University of Western Cape Town. These results corroborate the findings of a great deal of work done in University of Auckland in New Zealand. The university has guideline policy for babies and children on campus. It aims to support staff and students when babies and children are on campus. This guideline policy has worked successfully in University of Auckland. These findings show the possibilities that higher education can adopt the policies for childcare facilities on campus with the aim of advancing student mother rights.

The present results on literature review for student mothers having support for childcare facilities on campus is increasing, however not in South Africa. This topic is specifically under-researched. The next section describes the synthesis and evaluation of online methods. As highlighted earlier, there is a gendered barrier within South African higher education institutions that places student mothers at a disadvantaged position when it comes participating fully in on campus. There is little legislation and policies that address whether the universities must make provision for online study methods to assist student mothers. However, since 2020 there has been an increase in courses offered online in South African universities which benefits student mothers because it affords opportunities to make education more accessible. Lumadi supports the developments of online education in South African universities but also highlights that the method of online studying has increased dropouts in higher education especially if there is inadequate student support. He further suggests ways to best improve student support in open learning. The finding of studying online for student mothers is supported by Tana Cuming, Sarah Verdon, Laura Hoffman, Suzanne C, Hopf And Lisa Brown. Their study holds that online studying fits the responsibilities of student mothers unlike face-to-face participation. This aligns with what Lisa Thomas, Catherine V Talbot and Pam Briggs explored.

Conclusion

In conclusion, even though the families, lecturers and policy makers provide some support to student mothers, this article concludes that student mothers continue to face many challenges which have the potential to impair their academic performance and success. I, therefore, strongly suggest that there should be revised policies and laws that support the rights of student mothers. In addition, I submit to the state to endeavour accommodating the rights of student mothers in as far as reasonably practicable in order to allow them to continue their studies.