Pupils get 'A' for sex

Each year thousands of schoolgirls 'disappear' from the educational system because they are pregnant.

Already, in the first week of the 2014 academic year, eight pregnant girls have dropped out at one school in KwaZulu-Natal.

"The number of teenage pregnancies and school dropouts is worrying," KwaZulu-Natal education department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said yesterday.

"We urge parents and guardians to advise their children to take care of themselves."

Though constitutionally protected from expulsion, Mhlanga said, "hundreds, thousands or even multiple thousands" of pregnant schoolgirls drop out each year.

Some of the pregnant girls do not even complete the first year of high school, he said.

"We find that they enter Grade 8 already pregnant, so they just drop out. Matric poses a bigger challenge because this is when they are expected to progress beyond school. Instead, they drop out."

The department of education in KwaZulu-Natal, where at least 10 500 teenage pregnancies were recorded in 2012, has launched an investigation into why 3 000 registered matric girl candidates failed to write exams last year.

"In the context of a high number of teenage pregnancies and other social ills, we will conduct a thorough investigation into the disappearance of these learners. We want to retain as many girl learners as possible. We need to understand the reasons for this high dropout rate so we can be better positioned to respond," education MEC Peggy Nkonyeni said.

The national department of education has not kept records of teenage pregnancies since 2009.

But the Department of Health last year revealed that 94 000 school girls across the country became pregnant in 2011.

Last year the UN Population Fund reported that births to girls under 15 in sub-Saharan Africa were expected to double in the next 17 years.

Moshy Mathe, founder of the NGO Youth for Survival, said yesterday that hundreds of pregnant girls left school each year despite government efforts to get them to continue their education.

"They say to us that other children tease them," Mathe said. "They get picked on for their appearance and even for being sleepy in class.

"Th sad thing is that the same ones that are teasing them this year will be pregnant the next year."

Mathe said that most pregnant girls knew they could not be expelled but dropped out because they believed that there was no future for them at school.

"They ask us what is the purpose of being at school when they will have to leave when the baby is born because there will be no one else to take care of the child," she said.

Mathe attributed the high teenage pregnancy rate to "sugar daddies" and lack of parental supervision and guidance.

"These girls are prey for older men. We need to make a big deal about teenage pregnancy because it is too easily accepted by parents. The girl doesn't think it's wrong to say 'yes' to an older man because she knows her parents accepted it when it happened to her [older] sisters."

Mathe said that well-off schoolgirls who found themselves in the same position as their poorer classmates could still go on to "make something of themselves" because they had family support and better opportunities.

The Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa said it did not track the number of dropouts due to pregnancy.

"I would expect the rates to vary from school to school, depending on factors such as location and socioeconomic circumstances," the association's Simon Lee said.

After a survey to establish the factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Gauteng, the Department of Social Development last year announced similar studies in all provinces.

About 500 pupils were interviewed for the Gauteng survey. Parents and teachers were also asked to provide input on the cause of teenage pregnancy.

The study found that older men continued to influence teenage girls into having sex with them, and that many girls wanted to prove their womanhood. It also found that a lack of parental supervision contributed to teenage pregnancy.