Pregnancy stats still shocking
ALMOST 200 Northern Cape pupils fell pregnant last year – including three junior school pupils.
A response given by the Department of Basic Education in reply to a parliamentary question by the DA, showed that last year alone a total of 157 pupils in the Province fell pregnant.
Three of the mothers were in Grade 7, six in Grade 8 and 27 in Grade 9. Among Grade 10 pupils the number jumped to 50, while there were 40 pupils in Grade 11 and 31 in Grade 12.
While the number of schoolgirl pregnancies last year is alarming, it was still far less than in 2014, when 55 primary school pupils in the Northern Cape fell pregnant.
In 2014, a shocking five pupils in grades 3, 4 and 5 fell pregnant.
In Grade 6 there were 11 pupils who fell pregnant and in Grade 7 a whopping 39 pupils.
In that year, a total of 1 119 pupils, between Grade 3 and Grade 12 fell pregnant. This figure dropped to 69 in 2015. In 2015, three Grade 6 pupils and four Grade 7 pupils fell pregnant.
Nationally more than 190 pupils in grades 3, 4 and 5 fell pregnant between 2014 and 2016.
If pupils from Grade 6 and Grade 7 who fell pregnant are taken into account, the number jumps to 1 449.
“This information should shock every South African,” the DA’s MP and basic education portfolio committee member Sonja Boshoff said in a statement.
“Young girls, most under the legal age of 16, are having their futures undermined, likely through being taken advantage of or abused,” Boshoff said.
She said further urgent questions would be submitted to ascertain whether these girls were under the age of 16, and if so, if any charges have been instituted against those responsible.
“We will also investigate whether these girls have since returned back to school following the birth of their child, what support the school and the Department of Basic Education have provided them to catch up on the syllabus and whether counselling and other emotional support has been provided,” Boshoff said.
Further numbers from the parliamentary reply show that 18 357 pupils fell pregnant in 2014, 15 504 in 2015, and 8 732 in 2016.
“Although the overall numbers seem to indicate a drop in school pregnancies, the department was not able to provide the statistics for Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Traditionally, these two provinces account for large numbers of school pregnancies, a total of 6 477 in 2014 and 5 178 in 2015 combined.”
Northern Cape Department of Education spokesman, Geoffrey van der Merwe, said yesterday that the department had recently launched the emancipation of the girl child programme in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District, which was aimed at educating boys as well as girls about teenage pregnancies.
“The programme, launched at Bankhara-Bodulong High School, actively engages pupils on matters that may negatively affect their schooling career, including teenage pregnancies,” said Van der Merwe.
He pointed out that the John Taolo Gaetsewe District had the fifth highest delivery rate (birth) in girls under the age of 18 years out of 81 districts in South Africa.
“The programme’s curriculum is designed to support the cognitive development of pupils to enhance their personal decision-making skills for responsible social behavioural conduct, and pupils are engaged through different activities designed to handle all social ills.”
“It is our collective responsibility to protect our children and pupils at all costs to ensure that they complete their school academic career and have access to those opportunities that await them. We believe that this programme will have the desired impact on all our pupils to prevent, abstain and realise their responsibility to remain committed to their studies towards a successful future.”
He added that the programme would be rolled out to all schools across the Province.