8 pregnant pupils all pass matric
High dropout rate a worry to school
Eight female pupils who fell pregnant while in matric at a Limpopo school have all passed.
The pupils, aged between 18 and 20, were enrolled at Mukhwantheli Secondary School in Dididi village, near Thohoyandou.
The school, situated along the popular Nandoni Dam, caters for pupils from the villages of Tshiulungoma, Dididi, Tshitomboni and Tambaulate.
The school had a total of 31 pupils who were pregnant last year, most of whom were in lower grades.
It was also discovered that a boy in grade 10 was allegedly responsible for impregnating three of the girls, one of whom was a matriculant.
The shocking discovery of the high teenage pregnancy at the school came to light during an awareness campaign by the provincial department of health.
A teacher at the school attributed the problem to poverty in the area. He said the female pupils were easy targets for fishermen who operated at the dam. When Sowetan visited the school on Friday, none of the pupils who were pregnant last year could be found. Nobody knew their whereabouts. And the school’s principal, Mashudu Maboho, yesterday said he was happy that all eight pregnant pupils who were doing matric last year had passed. He, however, expressed concern that the high number of pregnancies increased dropout and absenteeism rates. “We have also enlisted the services of psychologists to help with counselling of the pupils,” Maboho said.
The school saw a slight improvement in its matric pass rate, from 62% in 2017 to 65.56% in 2018. This means of the 151 matriculants last year, 99 have passed, with 28 of them obtaining bachelor passes.
“I just hope that the awareness campaign by the provincial department of health will conscientise pupils about the dangers of early pregnancy,” said Maboho.
He said he was also worried that the grade 10 pupil who was allegedly responsible for impregnating three pupils had dropped out of school. “The boy has not returned to school this year. And no one chased him away,” he said, adding that they still had space until tomorrow [today] to allow pupils back to the school. “In terms of the law, we allow 10 days for parents, such as those working in Gauteng, to return their children to the school.
“And the deadline is January 21,” he warned. Department spokesperson Sam Makondo said it would, however, not reach any conclusions before knowing what was happening with the pupils.
“The school’s gates are not shut on any pupil wishing to return to school,” Makondo said.