A 16-year-old Grade 10 learner from Molautsi Secondary School in Bloodriver, outside Polokwane, shocked her community when they discovered that she had given birth by herself inside the school toilets. The learner, who is said to have been seven months pregnant when she went into labour and her newborn are reportedly safe and in the hands of health care professionals.

A SHOCK

The department has confirmed the incident and has launched an investigation. Suzan Xithlelani from the Limpopo Department of Education said the investigation will look at whether or not the school was aware that the student was pregnant. "The department can confirm that in cases of such circumstances there are correct measures in place to provide sufficient care and support to pregnant learners throughout the schooling season. We further want to acknowledge that through our curriculum and other extra-curricular activities, such as advocacy campaigns and comprehensive sexual education, which we have initiated as a department, have advanced means to raise awareness on teenage pregnancy," Xithlelani said.

DEPARTMENT DIDN'T KNOW

Over the years, there have been reports of a high rate of pregnant learners at the school. In 2018, 27 learners at the same school were pregnant. One of the learners gave birth to triplets in the same year. "The problem is that they did not even notify the department about the learner who is pregnant because normally they had to punch in the information of learner pregnancy in their School Administration Management System (SAMS) so that we are aware of learners who are pregnant but without the SAMS and EMIS to give us the information, we are not aware, but what the department is doing is checking if any educators were aware," said Xithlelani. The department appealed to the media and the public in general to grant the learner and her family the necessary privacy during this time. They've also dispatched a team of experts to the school to provide psychosocial support in due course.