Pregnant at 16, Forced Out of School: A Teen Mother’s Fight to Reclaim Her Future

By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna 

In Bayan Dutse community, Narayi Ward of Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Rhoda Yakubu (not her real name) once lived the familiar rhythm of a secondary school student balancing classes, friends, and dreams of completing her education. 

Today, at 17, her life has taken a very different turn, one defined by early motherhood and a disrupted academic path.

Rhoda said her life changed when she was 16 and in SS2, after she met a boy during a chance encounter on her way to a friend’s shop where she was going to make her hair. 

The encounter led to an exchange of contacts, and later, a relationship that quickly became life-altering.

Not long after, she became pregnant.

“I told him when I found out,” she said. “At first, he said I should remove it. Later, he told me to keep the baby.”

As the pregnancy progressed, Rhoda said communication between them broke down. 

By about four months, she said the child’s father began denying responsibility altogether and accused her of being involved with other men.

A family meeting was eventually held between both sides, but she said he initially refused to accept paternity. 

The dispute deepened tension at a time when she was still trying to come to terms with teenage pregnancy.

At home in Bayan Dutse, Rhoda said her father was initially angry but later became supportive, assuring her that she would return to school after childbirth and breastfeeding. That promise, she says, remains her biggest motivation.

However, her education was cut short when school authorities reportedly asked her to stop attending classes due to her pregnancy. That decision ended her schooling abruptly while she was still in SS2.

“I was doing well in school,” she said. “I would say I was average, but I was serious with my studies.”

With school suspended, Rhoda’s daily life changed completely. 

She said she focused on preparing for childbirth while dealing with emotional stress and uncertainty. 

Support came occasionally from the child’s father’s mother, who helped with small provisions for the baby, but she described overall support as inconsistent.

After delivery, Rhoda now stay with the child’s father’s mother who also manages to survive due to challenges she did not fully explain. 

She said contact with the baby’s father has remained irregular, with little consistent involvement in caring for the child.

Now a teenage mother in Bayan Dutse, her days revolve around caring for her infant while relying largely on family support. 

Despite everything, she continues to hold on to one goal, returning to school.

“I have not gone back to school yet,” she said. “But I still want to continue. Education is important for my future and for my child’s future too.”

Her father, she added, has promised she will resume schooling once she stops breastfeeding and childcare becomes easier to manage. 

For now, that promise remains her hope for stability.

But the challenge is, there are no provisions for nursing mothers in secondary schools in her community, even across the state. 

Before the pregnancy, Rhoda also learned hairdressing from her aunt, a skill she now sees as a possible means of survival while waiting for a chance to return to formal education.

Her story in Bayan Dutse reflects a difficult reality for many adolescent girls, how early pregnancy can abruptly interrupt education and reshape life trajectories. 

Yet amid the challenges, Rhoda remains focused on rebuilding what she lost: her education and her future.

She said her greatest encouragement was the moral booster she and other adolescent mothers got from the Participatory Communication for Gender Development PAGED Initiative under its Media Advocacy Project for Adolescents Mothers, funded by the Malala Fund.

The project seeks to promote gender-responsive pathways for married adolescents and adolescent mothers to access formal education.