CAPE TOWN, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The high rate of learner pregnancy in South Africa has become a major social, systemic and fiscal challenge, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga said Monday.
It poses a challenge not only to the basic education sector, but also to national development, Motshekga said after a meeting of the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) in Pretoria.
Teenage pregnancy among school girls can impact negatively on the country's ability to ensure these girls complete their schooling, which is also goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations, the minister said.
"Teenage pregnancy impacts the lives of thousands of young people, often limiting their personal growth, the pursuit of rewarding careers and their ambitions, with incalculable impact on South Africa's socio-economic systems," she said.
An estimated 15,740 learners fall pregnant in an academic school year with some girls being in primary schools, and the Health Department said this number could be even greater.
In North West Province's impoverished Ratlou-municipality, for instance, 3,000 underage girls were found pregnant earlier this year, including an 11 years old who had already given birth.
The girls were allegedly impregnated by older men.
In many cases girls who fall pregnant while in school drop out or rarely return to school post pregnancy, thus ending any prospect for a descent career, said Motshekga.
To curb the high pregnancy rate of learners, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has developed a National Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy.
This policy seeks to ensure the accessible provision of information on prevention, choice of termination of pregnancy, care, counselling and support, frameworks for impact mitigation, and guidelines for systemic management and implementation.
In particular, it commits the basic education system and other role players to providing the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) crucial to optimal sexual and reproductive health.
The DBE needs to ensure that learners are educated and know what they are getting into when it comes to sexual activity and to advise and support them to access relevant forms of contraception, Motshekga said
For those learners who do fall pregnant, "we do not want them to be expelled from school or denied the right to education," she said.
