New Basic Education Department Policy: Schools Have to Report Teen Pregnancy to SAPS

• The Department of Basic Education has gazetted a new policy concerning the role of schools in managing teenage pregnancies
• Under this new policy, the school that the expectant learners attend will have to report their pregnancy to the police if they are under 16 years old
• South African law dictates that the age of consent is 16, meaning that all sexual activity by those under 16 counts as rape

CAPE TOWN - The Basic Education Department has announced a new policy regarding teen pregnancy, which The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA) has welcomed.

This new policy follows a rise in the number of young girls, some only 10 years old, falling pregnant, which interrupts their schooling.

The new policy mandates schools to report these pregnancies to the South African Police Service (SAPS). The department hopes that this will lower the underage pregnancy rate, SABC News reports.

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How the policy will work

The cases that the school will have to report are those where the mother is under 16 and the father is over 16. According to The South African, the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a sharp rise in the number of teenage pregnancies in South Africa.

Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, gazetted the new policy which recognises that South Africa's age of consent is 16, which means that sexual activity by those under 16 constitutes rape.

These rape cases need to be reported to SAPS and it is incumbent on the schools that the underage girls attend to do so.

South Africans react to the new policy

@Nomhle_Global said:

"This is not enough. Child and teenage pregnancy stems from much deeper socio-economic issues. This country likes allocating policies to issues without proactively addressing root causes. A policy document is one thing, action is another!"

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Chantell Lundall shared:

"Very good. The parents must be called in as well because we are equally responsible for our children, my son will not get away with this nonsense."

Kutama Zane Bethuel believes:

"I blame Zuma for legalising sexual acts of children over the age of 12."

Leonie Lawrence Van Rooyen said:

"Now social workers have to be more hands-on and visible in the school."

Evelyn Chabeli asked:

"Shouldn't they say clinics and hospitals should report these incidents? Why should the school always be responsible?"

Health Minister says schoolgirl pregnancies are unacceptable, Education Department is at wits' end

Previously, Briefly News reported that in a debate about teenage pregnancy, Health Minister Joe Phaala called unplanned pregnancies, particularly in females who are still in school, unacceptable.

This follows a report by the Department of Basic Education which stated that 130 000 babies were born to girls between 10 and 19 years of age in 2019.

Phaala expressed that more action needs to be taken to ensure that girls do not become pregnant, as it disrupts their schooling and causes many to drop out of school altogether, and often do not return. He also added that teenage pregnancy has long plagued the country.

Source: Briefly News