The high number of pregnant learners at Molautsi Secondary School near Polokwane has prompted the Limpopo Education Department to take action.
MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe has visited the school at Bloodriver where 27 learners are pregnant.
Fourteen of them are in matric.
Kgetjepe says they will provide peer support programmes to learners.
“At schools we are not here to groom children mothers. We are here to grow you up into adulthood and we don’t want just adults, we need better educated adults. As government we will tell you all the time that we are fighting three things – unemployment, inequality and poverty. There is nothing that will take you out of poverty except education. 90% of people who are successful are not fortunate. Success comes out of hard work, sacrifices and discipline.”
Some of the learners say they hope Kgetjepe’s visit to Molautsi Secondary School will turn the situation around.
“I feel very bad that our school is being exposed to such things. Teenage pregnancy is a very serious problem in our village and it’s not nice for anyone of us,” says one learner.
Another learner says: “The MEC said we must not make permanent decisions over temporary time because they will not benefit us.”
Another learner says they hope the message spread by the MEC will help learners change and make better decisions as the high rate of the pregnancies demotes the school’s image.
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