CAPTION: Yalo

The research is contained in a report compiled by the Department of Basic Education that was released earlier this month.

The report, The Annual Surveys for Ordinary Schools for 2009-2010, found that:

- In 2009, about 109 pupils fell pregnant in Grade 3 alone — up from 17 in the same grade in 2008. In Grade 4, the number increased to 107 from 67 in 2008, and in Grade 5, 297 girls fell pregnant in 2009;

- The highest concentration of pregnant pupils were in high school from Grade 7 to 9. In 2009, 45,276 girls fell pregnant.

The report also details a litany of negative circumstances under which the country’s children are expected to complete their school careers, such as:

- Only 25% of ordinary schools had internet in 2010, and about 54% of schools had a land line telephones. Only 3% of schools in Limpopo had access to broadband compared to 98% of those in the Western Cape, a glaring “inequality”;

- About 26% of schools had multi-grade classes in 2010, and the majority came from the Eastern Cape.

Other societal factors mentioned in the report show that up to a million children grew up without fathers while many others depend on the country’s extensive social grant network for financial support.

The report, drawn from information culled from surveys conducted in March every year in all ordinary schools in South Africa, only focuses on pupils, and the department is expected to release separate research on teachers at a later stage.

An education expert warned that should these challenges not receive urgent attention, South Africa will pay a significant price in the future.

Professor Kobus Maree, a lecturer in educational psychology at the University of Pretoria, said the alarming high pregnancy rate at Grade 3 was “appalling” and “deeply upsetting”.

He said a large number of these children fell pregnant because of rape or abuse.

 “This is really unacceptable. Of all those children who fall pregnant in Grade 3, how many rapists are brought to book? If you look at these figures, that means there are so many rapists in the country walking around free,” he said.

Maree said teachers to whom he had recently spoken felt that life orientation had been dumped on them without adequate training. He recommended that government make community service compulsory for child psychologists, in order to have them assist in teacher training in schools.

The number of children on child grants is also a reflection of the reliance on the social network provided by government.

In 2009, the 2,813,76 on grants grew to 3,110,688 a year later.

In 2010, 37% of all pupils in the Eastern Cape and 32% pupils in Mpumalanga received the monthly grant.

Maree said while government had to shoulder much of the blame, parents were also responsible for failing their own children as they did not give enough support.

Maree said while government has boldly stated its intentions by allocating a large chunk of its budget towards education, incompetent and less determined public officials were costing the State by not driving delivery of infrastructure and resources like material at ground level.

He cited the recent Pretoria High Court judgment which ordered the Basic Education department to deliver text books to pupils in Limpopo by June 15.

“It goes without saying that [some] schools have such a backlog, that the divide at Grade 12 is huge,” he said.

Maree said government needed to hire qualified employees to clean up the system — irrespective of the politics or race.

Comments

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Mon May 20 07:41:18 SAST 2013 ::

May 31, 2012

Maezizsto4Life

Moer a grade 3 pupil pregnant?Mos ke bana ba bannyane bao tjerrr kante banyana ba simolla go mensa leng nah?Hai mara this is not fair ngwana wa grade a rwele mpa?Bana bao le bona tshwanetse ba bue gore ke bo mang ba ba reipang nhe dai ding ke rape man
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May 31, 2012

inkwenkweemdaka

le nna nka straeka? chlilin under the tree, yah
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May 31, 2012

Bumboklaat

Well we see it everyday in our communities, the collective is to blame for this. government,society, parents teachers! What happened to it takes the whole village to raise a child? Government is too lenient on offenders. government has given children too much rights. parents don't care enough about their children's future. Elderly men are running after teenagers. the communities turn a blind eye!
SIES!!
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May 31, 2012

molefelives

The last time I physically went under a tree was in 1978
The situation was compelling, but not now.
I say, I realise that Gwede Mantashe and Jackson Mthembu suceeded in their camaign to put Zuma for the second term by lobbying against The Spear.
I wish they can use the same strength to lobby for schools that go under the trees, unemployed and service delivery.
It took them a few days to achieve their campaign even before they reached the courts.
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May 31, 2012

MGEEZ

The report, The Annual Surveys for Ordinary Schools for 2009-2010, found that:
- In 2009, about 109 pupils fell pregnant in Grade 3 alone — up from 17 in the same grade in 2008. In Grade 4, the number increased to 107 from 67 in 2008, and in Grade 5, 297 girls fell pregnant in 2009;
- The highest concentration of pregnant pupils were in high school from Grade 7 to 9. In 2009, 45,276 girls fell pregnant.
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Wow; well done to the ruling party, your strat plan of compensating school going children to have babies is working wonders, I hope you are proud of yourselves!!! Or are you not?
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May 31, 2012

Moletjie000000

THis is wat we must march for nt for a spear......
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May 31, 2012

Shenene

Moletjie000000
THis is wat we must march for nt for a spear......
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hehehe wa geshu wareng nah,,, u want to match for girls who are opening their legs aowa warra nagana gape
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May 31, 2012

DJWinner

Only blame cellphones and internet. Kids watch and share porn these days and get horny.
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May 31, 2012

Pitseng

@ All

Please guys lets get real here, the grade 3 child is about 9 years, realy now getting a nine year old pragnent what F@#K#r, I would have chop that spear of yours if you I know you. piece of Sh#T
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May 31, 2012

Kudla

So 9 year olds are getting pregnant in their hundreds and so are 10 year olds? Grade 3 and 4. Wow sex education is very VERY effective. Time to give abstinence the priority it deserves.
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