Dept of Education submits draft policy to prevent teen pregnancy in schools
The Department of Basic Education said it had given Cabinet a new draft policy on how to address teenage pregnancy in schools and was expecting it to be approved soon.
Briefing parliament’s basic education committee on Tuesday, the department gave figures that show nearly 87,000 babies were delivered to girls aged between 10 and 19 in public health facilities in 2017, but this number rose to more than 136,000 last year.
The department said part of the reason for the significant jump in numbers was the COVID lockdown and school closures, which meant pupils were not in class. Dr Granville Whittle
Department of Basic Education’s said the policy would guide how the department prevented and managed learner pregnancies, in future.
Comprehensive sexuality education and access to health services are already offered by some schools.
Whittle said it was important that girls remained in school for as long as possible, and that they should be encouraged to continue with classes after having their baby.
“It’s important that when children fall pregnant and have given birth, that they are returned to school because if they don’t, they’re likely to have multiple pregnancies,” Whittle said.
He said girls between the ages of 10 and 19 were four times more likely than boys to be infected with HIV and faced other risks like rape, gender-based violence, and exploitation by older men.
“Girls don’t drop out because they fall pregnant, they fall pregnant because they have dropped out,” he added.
-EWN
In other news – Muvhango’s magosha Angela Atlang (Itseng) under fire
New Muvhango actress Angela Atlang, who plays Itseng Motsamai, says she is shocked and amused by rumours in her home country Botswana that she is a pr0stitute.
Atlang, who is a born-again Christian, said since playing Itseng – a seductive but hard and gritty woman who plies her trade as a str!pper – she has been inundated with calls from her fellow church members in Botswana reprimanding her for being a pr0stitute in South Africa. Learn More
