Paulina Quintao – Women's advocacy group Alola Foundation has withdrawn funding from five scholarship recipients because they fell pregnant. Alola Foundation executive director Alzira Reis said the aim of the scholarship program was to provide opportunities to vulnerable young women to access formal education.

"We have withdrawn their scholarships and we are looking for other people with an equal level of education to replace them," she said. She said there would be no opportunity for the pregnant women to access Alola Foundation scholarships in future.

However, the Alola Foundation is involved in lobbying the government to develop a policy which would make it easier for young mothers to return to school after giving birth.

Reis said the Alola Foundation provided life skills and reproductive health education to scholarship holders so they could determine their own futures.

Bobonaro woman Tania Fatima said teenage girls fell pregnant due to a lack of sex education. "They don't have the right information and they give into temptation," she said.

Viqueque woman Melisa Maria Madalena Amaral said teen pregnancy was not confined only to Bobonaro but affected all districts, including her own.

The Alola Foundation awarded scholarships to 262 primary, secondary and university students. The program received a $100,000 grant from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/education/12764-pregnant-teens-booted-off-scholarship-program