Monday's report by the Gauteng department of education (GDE) that the number of pregnant pupils in schools has doubled from last year is shocking but not surprising.

Monday's report by the Gauteng department of education (GDE) that the number of pregnant pupils in schools has doubled from last year is shocking but not surprising.

In fact it was long overdue.

What did the government expect when they said that pregnant pupils would no longer be expelled from schools?

The government should have seen it coming.

It was all wrong from the beginning and now that things are getting out of hand the GDE, through their spokesman Panyaza Lesufi, are shifting the blame on to parents and the business community.

While it is true that most of our parents have outsourced parenting to the state, I still believe that government must be responsible for making sure that schools are places of teaching and learning, not maternity wards.

I cannot stop thinking what those teachers are going through with all those pregnant pupils in their classes.

How do they cope?

They are trained to teach, not to be midwives.

It's about time that the government did something about this issue before our schools are turned into maternity wards.

Kedibone Sekhwela, Tembisa