Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A 13-year-old pupil at Chinotimba Primary School in Victoria Falls had to write part of her ZIMSEC Grade Seven general examinations on a hospital bed soon after giving birth last month.
The learner was heavily pregnant when she sat for her first paper before going into labour that same afternoon.
She wrote four papers at the Victoria Falls Hospital maternity ward ignoring labour pains.
The teenage mother met Thumelani Sibanda in January this year, an 18-year-old assistant builder who was working at a house next door and the two started dating.
She only discovered she was pregnant in August when her maternal aunt noticed abnormal changes in her body.
Her mother then informed the school authorities who advised that she could do extra lessons at home and only come to school to write the examinations. Said the teen mother:
I was okay when I went to write my first paper on a Monday but other learners kept looking at me.
I left school going home after the exam and along the way, I started feeling pain.
When I got home I just lay down on the floor as the pain increased.
My aunt called a neighbour and they rushed me to hospital where I was taken to theatre for an operation.
I gave birth and I was so happy when I saw my baby which was 2.8kg.
A room was then set up for her where teachers came to invigilate her while nurses took care of the baby.
She was admitted to the hospital between Tuesday and Friday and wrote all the week’s papers there.
Her family said they met Sibanda’s family who pleaded for their son not to be reported to the police.
In Zimbabwe, it is a criminal offence to have sexual relations with a minor.
Meanwhile, the teen mother named her baby “Taboka” which means “Thank you”.
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