Parliament passes the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, and with it a commitment that surviving sexual violence will not cost a child her education. This is the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, National Assembly Bill No. 78 of 2023, passed by the National Assembly on 21 October 2026. Here is what it means. The Bill, sponsored by Hon. Dorice Aburi Donya, makes three main changes to the Sexual Offences Act. First, it protects the education of victims. It requires the Cabinet Secretary responsible for education to establish programmes that protect and promote the right to education of victims of sexual offences, including teenage mothers. This gives statutory weight to a constitutional promise. Under Article 43 every person has the right to education, under Article 53 every child has the right to free and compulsory basic education and the best interests of the child are paramount, and under Article 27 no one may be discriminated against. A girl who has survived sexual violence, or who becomes pregnant, keeps her right to learn. Second, it requires national public awareness. A new provision places a duty to promote public awareness of sexual offences, supporting the State's obligation under Article 21 to protect people from violence and to work to prevent it. Third, it aligns the Act with the Constitution. The Sexual Offences Act was passed in 2006, before the current Constitution. The Bill updates its language, replacing references to the Minister with the Cabinet Secretary in several sections, so that the law matches the structure of government under the 2010 Constitution. Because the Bill does not concern county governments, it does not go to the Senate. Having passed the National Assembly, it now proceeds to the President for assent. The legal dispute worth noting. The protection of victims' education and the prevention of sexual offences command broad agreement. The harder questions are about delivery. The Bill places new duties on Cabinet Secretaries to run programmes and awareness campaigns, yet its own memorandum states that it creates no additional public expenditure, which raises the practical question of how a positive duty is funded and enforced. And where awareness reaches children, there is a genuine debate about how it is delivered, balancing the protective value of information against the role of parents and communities in guiding what is age appropriate. These are questions of implementation rather than principle, and they will be answered as the programmes take shape. Key takeaway: the Bill turns constitutional guarantees on education, equality and protection from violence into specific statutory duties, and modernises a law written before the current Constitution. Its effect will depend on how those duties are resourced and carried out. 👉 Follow @Lexken_EMSLaw for practical legal insights on legislation and constitutional rights.