KIU withdraws memo demanding female students to test for pregnancy before exams
The University, through a letter written to Parliament by the Deputy Vice Chancellor KIU Western Campus, said they had withdrawn the memo.
The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among, today during plenary condemned the move by Kampala International University (KIU) requiring all female nurses and midwives students to undergo a pregnancy test or else they are not allowed to sit for exams.
The condemnation by the Speaker came after Tororo Woman MP Sarah Opendi raised a matter of discrimination against female midwives & nursing students at KIU. The female students were also mandated to pay Shs5000 for the pregnancy test.
Weighing in on the matter raised by Opendi concerning an internal memo from KIU demanding the girls to do the mandatory pregnancy test, Dr. Lilian Aber, the Woman MP for Kitgum district, said that in such a situation, female Muslim students would feel uneasy.
Aber asked the Speaker to ascertain the authenticity of the matter and have a written response to Parliament so that no other institution would do such a thing again.
Raising a procedural issue, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the MP for Kira Municipality, asked Parliament not to expand on such faith-based matters.
He informed the house that Islam discourages young girls from getting pregnant outside of marriage.
However, the Speaker later communicated that the University had withdrawn the memo. The University, through a letter written to Parliament by the Deputy Vice Chancellor KIU Western Campus, said they had withdrawn the memo.
