[They later scrapped the idea. But I laughed when I heard it. Another WORLD FIRST for the ANC! Viva the ANC I say! Jan]

The government is considering a set of drastic proposals to accommodate pregnant schoolgirls ” including compulsory maternity leave of six weeks.

According to the Department of Education, the proposals, contained in a 19- page document that it has compiled, are aimed at managing and preventing the high number of teenage pregnancies.

It calls on girls to attend antenatal classes and to produce monthly signed clinical records to their school™s headmaster as proof of their pregnancies.

Education Minister Naledi Pandor said the proposals should be ready for discussion at a meeting of the Council of Education Ministers in February next year. They come in the face of an alarming escalation in teenage pregnancies in the country™s 25194 public schools. Last year over 72000 girls, aged between 13 and 19, did not go to school because they were pregnant.

œChildren are sent to school to learn and it is vital that they complete their education ” and our focus is to prevent pregnancies, said Pandor.

The department also warned that it would work towards charging those, who made girls under the age of 16 pregnant, with statutory rape.

Other proposals made in the document, which was sent to provincial departments, are:

That girls produce a medical report after birth, declaring that they are fit to return to class;

That provincial departments of education, with the Department of Health and the Department of Social Development, assign a professional nurse and social worker to schools with many pregnant pupils;

That all schools keep a database on teenage pregnancy and offer basic counselling to new parents; and

That schools ensure that pregnant pupils do not take part in any strenuous sporting activities.

The Sunday Times has established that a separate six-member committee, appointed by Pandor to investigate gender equity in education, called for cre(168)¨ches to be set up at schools to support young mothers. But Pandor rejected this proposal, saying the provision of such facilities was not a function of her department.

Official figures from the provincial departments of education reveal that 5868 pupils at 2320 schools in KwaZulu-Natal fell pregnant this year in comparison with 1748 in the Free State.

Last year, around 5000 pupil pregnancies were reported in Limpopo, while Gauteng recorded 2542 in the past two years.

According to the Department of Social Development, initial results of a probe into the œalleged increase in teen pregnancies don™t support the theory that teenagers are deliberately falling pregnant to secure child-support grants.

Spokesman Lakela Kaunda said the report, which had been presented to Cabinet for consideration, found there was a significant delay between the birth of children and the mothers gaining access to the child-support grant, œwhich means that new mothers are not in a hurry to obtain a grant.

Source: Sunday Times
URL:http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Art…/p>