FOLLOWING the high rate of teenage pregnancy at Mavalani Secondary School in Giyani, Limpopo, health and social development MEC Dikeledi Magadzi decided to blame parents for the pregnancies. This is unfair

The MEC should acknowledge that it is difficult to deal with teenagers and parents cannot watch their children all the time .

I personally blame the departments of education and of health for the high rate of pregnancy. The education department teaches Life Orientation, but too little is said about sex, HIV-Aids or teen pregnancies. It teaches pupils about less important issues such as stress, religion and sports.

Pupils spend more time at school than at home, so teachers should spend more time educating schoolchildren.

The health department unconsciously encourages schoolgirls to become pregnant by denying them access to contraceptives. Why should girls be tested for HIV-Aids before they are given contraceptives? I thought the tests were voluntary.

This is unfair and it compromises one's human rights and freedom. Many girls are afraid to have themselves tested so they just stop going to the clinics.

While I acknowledge that both pregnancy and HIV-Aids are consequences of unsafe sex, they should be treated separately so as to avoid situations in which both take a toll on the same body.

The MEC must not shift the blame.

Her department is failing to work with the education department to educate young ones about the dangers of unsafe sex.

If HIV-Aids tests continue to be carried out before giving contraceptives, then I foresee more teenage pregnancies.

Malphia Honwane, Gottenburg