President Yoweri Museveni says he will sit down with a section of religious leaders to resolve outstanding disagreements on underage pregnant and lactating mothers.

While delivering his national address on the National Liberation Day celebrations at the Kololo Ceremonial grounds, the president said he doesn’t agree with the idea that pregnant learners should be permanently kicked out of school after child birth.

His comments follow disagreements between religious leaders and the government on a policy introduced by the Ministry of Education ordering for breastfeeding and pregnant learners to be admitted back into school in their current position.

Museveni says the argument from religious leaders is whether pregnant and breast feeding  children can study while in that state or not. 

“We are going to sit down with the Bishops to find a solution for students who got pregnant during the lockdown. There is an argument on whether they should go to school pregnant or not. What I will not agree to is condemning the child to go to school because she got pregnant. It is not logical or religious,” he said.

Religious leaders have condemned the policy, saying that admitting the above categories in schools promotes immorality.

Recently, Bishop William Sebaggala, attached to Mukono Diocese under the Church of Uganda, openly criticized the move as immoral.

Ssebagala warned head teachers in the Church of Uganda founded schools not to admit pregnant and breastfeeding learners saying it contradicts their original stand to base a good education on imparting discipline and knowledge.

Also in a joint statement released by the Inter Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU), the chairperson, Archbishop Church of Uganda, His Grace Dr Stephen Samuel Kazimba Mugalu, he asked the government to revise the policy and substitute it with more realistic options.

The statement was issued during a retreat in Masaka onTuesday, for the IRCU members and Buganda clan leaders.

The Archbishop said  the government has overlooked certain key factors like access to emergency health care and antenatal services for expectant student-mothers ,to which schools don’t have the capacity to handle.

A United Nations Population Fund UNFPA report indicates that 354,736 teenage pregnancies were reported in 2020 alone while 196,499 were reported in the first six months of 2021.