Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has unanimously agreed that a holistic approach is required to deal with reducing teenage pregnancy in South Africa.
It says teenage pregnancies appear to be on the increase since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that saw initial hard lockdown regulations.
The Department of Basic Education briefed the committee on its programmes to address the matter.
It says girls do not drop out of school because they fall pregnant but rather fall pregnant because they drop out of school.
The committee further heard that approximately one in three girls does not return to school after falling pregnant and are likely to experience multiple pregnancies.
Meanwhile, a report by the department has revealed that scores of young girls between the ages of 10 and 19-years-old are infected with HIV every week.
This was stated during the department’s state of teenage pregnancy and comprehensive sexuality report presented to the Portfolio Committee on basic education.
Reports by Basic Education on HIV infections among young girls:
