Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane has called for certain topics to be destigmatised especially those concerning sex education. This is after the MEC found that three of the four learners from Eqinisweni Secondary School in Tembisa allegedly committed suicide because they were pregnant. 

Chiloane and Education Minister Angie Motshekga visited the school after four leaners committed suicide by drinking rat poison within a space of ten days. The MEC said it was important to destigmatise sexual education and teenage pregnancy because they are day to day realities that need to be spoken about. According to Chiloane, two of the four deceased learners were a couple expecting a child. "If three girls commit suicide because they are pregnant and the boy who also took his life is the boyfriend of one of the girls, then you can see that it's a stigma issue more than anything. How their friends are going to perceive them? One moment they are children, the next they are parents and they are not ready and don't know how they must handle it," he said.

Addressing teachers and learners at the school, Motshekga urged communities to take an active role in raising their children. She said school kids committing suicide concerns the department, even if they don't do it in schools but in their communities. "I just wanted to talk about it in the right context. We spoke at length with the community to say what is it that we can do to avoid such incidents, we have identified the problems. I know there are a lot of social factors that sometimes cause this. One of the key factors I picked up when I visited one school is that they had a problem with crime. I also know that there are mothers who leave kids on their own to work as domestic workers because of circumstances, these kids are not supported. They are on their own and raising themselves because mothers come back on the weekends when they are off. So, in such instances we have to step in as the community to help look after that child." she said.