Aunts and Fathers Programme Burundi

In an effort to stem a wave of pregnancy-related dropouts among female pupils, Burundi’s education leaders introduced a programme of sex education patterned on the Burundian tradition of fathers explaining sex to their teenaged sons and paternal aunts to teenaged girls. Using trusted teachers and other school employees for individual counseling in place of real fathers and aunts, Burundi’s primary and secondary schools started the “ Aunts and Fathers” programme in 2017. Now,  three years later, the programme is showing positive early results, with a considerable decline in the percentage of girls dropping out specifically due to pregnancy. According to Ministry of Education figures, in 2015-2016 - the school year before the start of the “Aunts and Fathers” programme – pregnancies accounted for 33% of female dropouts in Burundi (2,208 pregnancies out of 6,661 female dropouts). For the following three academic years, however, the percentages of dropouts due specifically to pregnancy were 1.5% in 2016-2017; 1.8% in 2017-2018; and 2% in 2018-2019. (The data for 2018-2019 is provisional, according to the ministry.) In other words, the percentage girls leaving school specifically because of pregnancy decreased considerably – and consistently – in the three years following introduction of the “Aunts and Fathers” programme.