NATIONAL NEWS - The Mpumalanga Department of Education says that around 8 543 learners between the age of 19 and 14 and just under 300 girls who are between 10 and 14 years old, gave birth in the province from April 2021 to March 2022.
The data was obtained from the Department of Health’s records on how many teenage girls gave birth at health facilities in the province.
Recently, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga revealed in parliament that 90 000 learners in South Africa fell pregnant last year.
The education department convened a learner pregnancy prevention and management policy workshop at the Capital Hotel in Mbombela on 26 September.
The purpose of the workshop was to engage and lobby key education stakeholders to support the department in addressing factors that are contributing to the high rate of teenage pregnancy in the province.
The department released a statement in which it said it has noted media reports regarding the statistics recorded of pregnancies involving girls of school-going age and says reports that there are 90 000 pregnant learners in the province are false and misleading.
Spokesperson for education in the province, Jasper Zwane, says, “The 90 000 figure represents the national statistics that were sourced from the Department of Health and subsequently tabled before the Portfolio Committee on Education by the Ministry of Basic Education.”
Zwane says the department remains concerned, even if only one learner gets pregnant.
He says the rate of learner pregnancy in South Africa is alarming and has become a major challenge in schools as it affects the lives of thousands of young people, often limiting their personal growth, their pursuit of rewarding careers and their profession and future ambitions.
“It is for this reason that the department continues to sensitise communities about the negative effects of learner pregnancy. A workshop was conducted last week to intensify the strategy to mitigate against this.
“Parts of the strategies of the comprehensive sexuality education that are being implemented by the department include to ensure that learners gain the knowledge and skills to make conscious, healthy and respectful choices about relationships and sexuality.
“Providing an age-appropriate, culturally relevant and right-based approach to sexuality and relationships, addresses the issues of gender and power, and provides scientifically accurate and practical information in a non-judgemental way.”
