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Pupil, 17, gives birth to second child by different dads

Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi

Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi

A Tembisa school in Ekurhuleni has been shamed again.

A Grade 11 pupil at Bokamoso High School shocked her schoolmates and teachers when she gave birth to a baby girl on the school's premises yesterday.

The child was her second.

The 17-year-old girl, from Winnie Mandela informal settlement, was in class when her labour pains became unbearable.

A close friend of the girl's tried to help her to the staff room so that teachers could call an ambulance, but the baby could not wait any longer.

She gave birth to a healthy girl on the school lawn, where assembly is normally held.

"We had to act as midwives. We had to form a circle to protect her from teasing pupils.

"A day's teaching programme was wasted," said a teacher who wished to remain anonymous.

"This is an embarrassment to both teachers and pupils. These things should not be happening at schools because these are places of learning and not maternity wards."

The teacher said the incident caused such a scene, with pupils jostling each other to catch a glimpse of the girl.

The teacher said they called an ambulance to take her and the baby to hospital, but it took more than an hour to arrive.

Another teacher said the school has a high rate of pregnancies and the situation was untenable.

"Another girl in Grade 11 may give birth any time now. I asked her to read her work in class but she could not stand up for more than two minutes because she was too tired," the teacher said.

This was the second time in two months that a pupil had given birth at a Tembisa school.

In August, another 17-year-old Grade 11 girl gave birth at Masisebenze High School.

Sowetan reported recently that at least 100 girls were pregnant at Masiqhakaze High School, also in Tembisa.

Gauteng department of education spokesman, Kate Bapela, said pregnant pupils were not allowed to attend classes when they were in the ninth month of pregnancy.

"Educators are not trained to be midwives and the situation could be traumatic for them," Bapela said.

Sowetan visited the teenage mother at Tembisa Hospital.

She said she had named the child Kgotsofatso. She said this was her second baby by a different father.

The girl said when her boyfriend, whom she did not want to name, heard about her pregnancy, he started acting strangely.

"He is not supportive. I am in this alone now," she said.

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