Factors Associated with Adolescent Mother Return to School: A Review of Literature

The status of Adolescent mother education stands as a pivotal concern for sustainable development across the continent. The Sub-Saharan Africa region has disproportionately the highest number of teenage pregnancies but also, the lowest number of teen mothers who return back to school.  This further undermines the potential of women to escape from poverty and contribute significantly to economic development and Sustainable Development Goals.  This is despite most governments in the Sub-Saharan Africa region having adolescent mothers return to school policy. Using a sample of 28 empirical published peer-reviewed journals, this paper utilizes a systematic review methodology to evaluate factors that influence adolescent mothers returning to school in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Factors identified by a sample of four quantitative papers include single-sex as being more accommodative in terms of re-integration of girls who return to school and family factors as being significant in the participation of teenage mothers who return to school.  Additionally, other factors include the role of family, school and community factors in the successful re-enrollment of adolescent mothers to school, and completion rate. This review paper finds that prior qualitative and quantitative research highlights how pervasive poverty influences adolescent mothers returning to school and completion, with sprawling Africa's urban informal settlements and remote rural areas being disproportionately affected. However, there is limited research on the educational resilience of adolescent mothers who braved themselves to return to school, and, successfully completed basic education against the odds. Studies on the resilience of adolescent mothers have the potential to uncover insights on the gaps in the current return-to-school policy and interventions necessary to foster gender equity, equality, and the empowerment of marginalized and vulnerable young women, thereby achieving sustainable development goals.