A notice that asked Ugandan female students at Kampala International university to take pregnancy tests or be banned from taking exams has caused an online uproar.
The widely shared notice, which was later withdrawn, demanded that female students taking midwifery and nursing courses take pregnancy tests and if they failed to do so, they would be unable to sit their exams.
Catherine Kyobutungi, the executive director of African Population and Health Research Center, shared the notice on her Twitter page.
Someone please help me here!
This is total hogwash, discriminatory and unacceptable.@kiuvarsity – what the hell??
Female nursing and midwifery students being asked to take a pregnancy test, at their own cost as a pre-condition for sitting exams is peak nonsense!!! pic.twitter.com/d71YsPGXHP— Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi (@CKyobutungi) November 9, 2022
She told the BBC that she had threatened to sue the university over the notice.
Dr Kyobutungi described the move as colonial, with no justification in institutions of higher learning and an attempt to police women’s morality.
On Twitter, others condemned the notice as discriminatory and unacceptable.
UNAids director Winnie Byanyima said it was “totally unacceptable and just ridiculous”.
Another Twitter user said it was “sad to see that institutions still front abusive policies”.
The university has since shared another notice asking students to ignore the poster demanding pregnancy tests, asking them to instead concentrate on their exams.
