Grade 4 girl among pregnant pupils in Limpopo

3803 *DO NOT IDENTIFY* One of the pregnant learners at Mavalani High school during lunch break on the school premises. Story feature on the high pregnancy levels at Mavalani High School in Giyani (Limpopo) which at the moment has 27 pregnant learners and last year had over 50 learners. Picture’s Antoine de Ras . 25/01/2011 NB: please make sure none of the learners can be identified in any of the photo’s

3803 *DO NOT IDENTIFY* One of the pregnant learners at Mavalani High school during lunch break on the school premises. Story feature on the high pregnancy levels at Mavalani High School in Giyani (Limpopo) which at the moment has 27 pregnant learners and last year had over 50 learners. Picture’s Antoine de Ras . 25/01/2011 NB: please make sure none of the learners can be identified in any of the photo’s

Published Jan 22, 2015

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Polokwane - A total of 663 pupils at Limpopo schools fell pregnant last year. Among them was a Grade 4 pupil at a farm school outside Polokwane.

The figures were revealed by the provincial education department in a reply to a question by DA MPL Jacques Smalle.

The Grade 4 pupil’s age is unknown.

“We do not have the age as the learner left the school after falling pregnant and has not returned since,” said acting department head Martin Mashaba.

Thirteen of the 663 were primary school pupils. Two were Grade 6 pupils in a primary school in Sekgosese outside Modjadjiskloof. Another two were in Grade 7 at primary school in Malamulele.

Other pregnant primary school pupils were from Tshukudu, Manavele Nelsonskop, Valdezia, Mahlohlwani and Sekoko.

The highest number of pregnancies – at 27 – was recorded in Kgwekgwe High School outside Tzaneen. Meetsetshehla Secondary in Vaalwater registered 21 pregnancies, while Relebogile High and Rotterdam Secondary recorded 17. Both schools are in Namakgale township outside Phalaborwa. Other schools with some of the highest pregnancy rates included Jonathan Tshifulufhelwi Secondary (16) and Johannes Malambilu Secondary (15).

Twelve secondary schools, including Hoërskool Pietersburg, which had eight pregnant pupils, each had pregnant girls in all their grades.

Hoërskool Pietersburg was recently honoured for producing the province’s two best pupils last year

Mashaba said the department did not have information to verify who had impregnanted the pupils.

No police case was opened.

“No cases were reported by the schools as we did not have any indication that this took place at the school premises,” he said.

Mavalani High School in Giyani, Limpopo, made the headlines in 2011 when 27 pupils were found to be pregnant at the same time.

Limpopo had the fifth highest pregnancy rate at 7.9 percent of females under 18 years of age who gave birth during the 2013/14 financial year countrywide, according to the District Health Barometer report released last October.

The report was compiled by the Health Systems Trust, an NGO that sourced the information from the national Department of Health.

The report states that overall, 74 070 girls under the age of 18 gave birth in South Africa in the 2013/14 financial year.

There were 1 166 more deliveries than in 2012/13 cases.

“Provincially, the highest delivery rate in a facility under 18 years for the past year was in the Northern Cape (10.2 percent of the 74 070), followed by the Eastern Cape (10.1 percent).

The lowest was in Gauteng (5.7 percent) even though there was an increase of 0.9 percentage points from 4.8 percent in the previous year,” the report said.

The rate declined in the Eastern Cape and Free State (7.1 percent), in North West (7 percent) and the Western Cape (6.3 percent). It was stable in KwaZulu-Natal (9.3 percent) and the Northern Cape, increasing in Limpopo and Mpumalanga (9.1 percent).

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