Managing learning in higher education: narratives on mothers with babies

This study explores the experiences of mothers with babies participating in full-time higher education in East Africa within a lifelong learning framework. Drawing on qualitative narratives, it examines how ten student mothers navigate the intersecting demands of academic study, caregiving, and socio-economic constraints. Findings reveal that women’s participation in higher education is driven by intrinsic motivations for personal growth, leadership development, and economic mobility, alongside extrinsic opportunities such as scholarships and institutional advancement. However, their lifelong learning trajectories are shaped by persistent structural barriers, including limited childcare provision, financial hardship, rigid institutional policies, and socio-cultural expectations of motherhood. Despite these constraints, student mothers demonstrate agency through adaptive strategies, including time management, reliance on family and peer networks, and engagement with flexible learning arrangements where available. Social support systems and institutional responsiveness are central to sustaining participation and well-being, yet inconsistencies in policy implementation and exclusionary institutional practices continue to undermine equitable access and success. The study argues that achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education and SDG 5 on gender equality in African higher education requires rethinking lifelong learning as a gendered, relational, and intersectional process embedded in care work and structural inequality. It calls for gender-responsive institutional reforms that integrate caregiving into higher education systems.