Teen pregnancies further indictment of our education

The government has gone to great lengths to try to convince us that it is improving its performance in education. And there might be grounds for a little optimism.

But only a little. On the whole, few people really believe that our education authorities and politicians are getting to grips with the many serious problems that beset this sector of government responsibility so vital in countering unemployment and poverty.

Further evidence for our doubts is provided by new statistics on the soaring school dropout rate of girls because of pregnancy. Up to 100000 schoolgirls are quitting school each year to have babies.

Schools are not allowed to expel a pregnant pupil so this shocking number represents only those children who walk away from getting an education of their own free will.

Parents, communities and the schooling system are all failing these children - and everyone's hopes for the future.

Schooling is not just about passing tests and exams, but about children growing up in a way that prepares them to handle the considerable demands and rigours of adult life.

We must entrust much of the shaping of our children's minds to educational institutions and we can only hope that they are able to instil in our young a sense of responsibility and imbue them with the disciplines they will need if they are to be the well-rounded, productive people we dearly want them to be.

The embarrassingly high number of pregnant dropouts is clear evidence that a great many of our schools are woefully inadequate.

Clearly, parents must also bear much of the blame, for their inadequacies in supervising and advising their children. But the parents are often themselves products of the same dysfunctional education system - or worse, its apartheid forerunner.

The loss of productivity as swathes of young women become recipients of welfare instead of creators of wealth should cause us to take a long, hard look at ourselves.