ABSTRACT
The introduction sets off with the interview offered by Mozambique president Nyusi in London in April 2018. In this context, President Nyusi told Chatham House (an independent policy institute) that having pregnant girls in mainstream education promotes early pregnancy. This statement introduces the complexities of this topic, and is considered against the voice of Zara, a 19-year-old girl I interviewed in Maputo. Zara claims, very bluntly, that being pregnant should not in itself cause discrimination. The school – she proceeds – discriminates, not the body. These words encapsulate the main argument of this book, which this section elaborates in detail. More specifically, Zara’s story illuminates the contentious relationship between education and schooling on the one hand, and sex, pregnancy, and parenthood on the other. These notions are often constructed in opposition to one another, rendering in-school pregnancy conceptually impossible. The introduction clarifies the rationale for this book, before providing an overview of the following chapters.
