Minister Angie Motshekga on learner pregnancy in South African schools

The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga regularly responds to parliamentary questions.

The Minister responded to a Parliamentary Question from the Democratic Alliance recently relating to the numbers of learners who fall pregnant in schools per Grade and the response was as follows:

Table 1: Number of learners who fell pregnant, by province, between 2014 and 2016

Source 1: 2014-16 Annual School Survey

Source 2: PEDs submissions

Note 1: 2016 data for KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga are still not available.

Note 2: The ASS question on learner pregnancy asks the school principal for: “the number of learners (That they are aware of) who got pregnant the previous academic year”.

Note 3: The data, as received from the provinces, are preliminary and must be treated with caution, since it has not been published in this format.

The question further asked of the known cases of learner pregnancy, how many have been reported to the SAPS for further investigation over the three year period.

For matters related to sexual offenses in the 2013 /14 period 56 680 cases were reported to the SAPS. In the 2014 /15 period a further 53 617 suspected cases of sexual offense were referred to police, and in the 2015 /16 year 51 895 were reported for investigation. As you can see the reported cases far outnumber the pregnancies reported.

These issues are of huge concern to the Department and as a result a lot of work is being done in this area. 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.

Pregnant learners undermine the Department of Basic Education’s endeavor to ensure that all learners remain in school for the duration of their schooling especially girls so that they can have an opportunity to improve their quality of life.

The Council of Education Ministers have approved a National Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy. The Policy addresses the high rates of pregnancy among learners; the familial and social context within which this occurs; options for reduction of unintended and unwanted pregnancies; management of its pre- and post-natal implications; limitation of associated stigma and discrimination; and, importantly, the retention and re-enrolment of affected learners in school.

This Policy seeks to ensure the accessible provision of information on prevention; choice of termination of pregnancy (CToP); 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 aim of CSE is to ensure that young people gain the knowledge and skills to make conscious, healthy and respectful choices about relationships and sexuality. It provides an age-appropriate, culturally-relevant and right-based approach to sexuality and relationships, which explicitly addresses issues of gender and power, and provides scientifically accurate, practical information in a non-judgemental way.

Of central importance this Policy asserts the Constitutional rights of pregnant learners to continue and complete their basic education without stigma or discrimination. Specifically, it confirms that there should be no exclusion of pregnant learners who must be allowed to remain in school during their pregnancies and return as soon after giving birth as is appropriate for both the learner and her child. For its part, the school is required to accommodate the reasonable needs of the learner to ensure that her right to education is not disrupted or ended by pregnancy or birth.

Enquiries: 
Elijah Mhlanga
Cell: 083 580 8275

Troy Martens
Cell: 079 899 3070