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By Akani Nkuna
Learner pregnancy remains a major challenge, with over 30% of teenage girls falling pregnant in South Africa.
Of these, 65% are unplanned, which emphasises the urgent need for effective interventions to address the issue and support young learners in continuing their education while preventing unintended pregnancies.
According to the Basic Education Department, inequality, poverty, gender-based violence and power imbalances are key factors that drive high pregnancy rates. Data shows a rise in births among 10 to 14-year-olds between October and December 2024, coinciding with school closures for exams and holidays.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities was briefed by the department on the scourge, which especially gets media attention during the festive season when provincial education departments release figures on teenagers who have given birth.
Committee chairperson Liezl van der Merwe emphasized the need for ongoing solutions to address pregnancies, rather than limiting the focus to the December period.
“We want to focus on our learner pregnancy crisis. During the December period a lot of media focus was placed on this matter,” she said.
“However, it cannot be that we wait until Christmas babies arrive for us as portfolio committee to really interrogate this crisis. Because we do need to find an effective solution to this crisis,” she said during committee meeting this week.
Effective management of learner pregnancy depended on collaboration and complementary approach between all departments, partners and stakeholders including instituting strong referral mechanism, an official from the department told the committee.
The department emphasised that factors such as grade repetition, household poverty, unplanned pregnancies and limited communication about sexual reproductive health with caregivers or parents were placing girls at risk of dropping out of school.
“Those who drop out early during pregnancy with no formal childcare and no family care are at risk of not returning back to school,” Ndlovu added.
The department launched its policy on preventing and managing learner pregnancy in 2021. It is designed to foster a supportive environment, offer comprehensive sex education and provide care, counselling and support for pregnant learners.
However, committee members emphasised the importance of better coordination between government departments, stronger referral systems and peer education programmes to empower both girls and boys.
According to the department, there is a 49% likelihood of school enrolment for girls who have given birth and experience food insecurity, live in informal housing, have strained relationships with caregivers and face longer distances to school.
The enrolment figure increases drastically – to 72% – for girls who have who have access to the right food and the right amount, do not live in informal housing, have positive relationships with caregivers and also live close to school.
In late 2023, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) conducted a comprehensive study on school dropouts among adolescent girls during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
It showed that there were a multitude of factors contributing to adolescent pregnancy. They included limited knowledge about sexual biology and access to contraception services, fear of stigmatisation, lack of parental involvement, various socioeconomic factors, statutory rape, older sex partners, teacher–student sexual relations and substance abuse.
It also found, as the department has, that household and school-related factors are barriers to the retention of pregnant learners and adolescent mothers in school.
The report made a number of recommendations, emphasising that they should be implemented in a holistic and coordinated manner, with a strong focus on the rights, needs, and aspirations of pregnant and parenting youth.
The suggestions include prevention, supporting pregnant and parenting youth, policy and legal reforms, and collaboration and partnerships.
On regulations, it says that laws and policies related to teenage pregnancies need to be reviewed and updated, law enforcement against child marriage and sexual exploitation must strengthened, and access to legal services for pregnant and parenting youth must be ensured.
While the department and committee agree that there is a need for inclusive education and strategies for preventing and managing learner pregnancy, clearly a lot more needs to be done.
This includes a recommendation by the CGE that the departments of Basic Education, Health, Social Development and SA Police Services spearhead school-based and community programmes.
INSIDE EDUCATION