Ghana: Three pregnant nursing students still not included in exams

Three Nursing students who were barred from sitting their licensing exams by the Nurses and Midwifery
Council say the council has yet not reversed its decision despite the directive by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice(CHRAJ). CHRAJ ordered the Nursing and midwifery Council to register all affected pregnant students in the upcoming external licensing examination in August who were barred from sitting the exams. The directive comes after three student nurses at the Mampong Nurses and Midwifery Training school in the Ashanti region were prevented from registering for the examination because they were pregnant.

Human Rights Lawyer, Mr Francis Xavier-Sosu filed a petition and brought the matter to the doorstep of CHRAJ and prayed for urgent intervention for the affected students. But almost a week after CHRAJ’s directive to allow the students write the exams, the students say the directive is yet to be upheld by the council.

According to them, the school authorities have insisted until they get a correspondence from the council they cannot be given the opportunity to write the exams.

 “I don’t know who is supposed to write letter to who before we’ll be called back…we waiting for the labour ward assessment which is all part of the external exams,” one of the affected students said.