Eric Naki

Eric Naki

Sadtu hopes to formulate its own solution to the problem of pregnancy at South African schools.

Sadtu, the biggest union in the education sector and Cosatu's second largest affiliate, expressed concern that Education Minister Naledi Pandor's guidelines on rising school teenage pregnancy were vague and unhelpful to deal with the situation.

The union said the guidelines fell short because they wanted individual schools to develop their own approach to the issue.

Sadtu's national executive committee decided at a meeting in Johannesburg at the weekend to initiate a campaign around pupil pregnancy and to hold workshops in all the provinces to help improve the understanding of the issue.

The campaign and workshops will promote awareness around health and education issues and a lack of resources, which includes school nurses, and highlight the rights of pupils.

Sadtu said the outcome of its workshops and interaction with schools will be taken as a proposal to the department on what to do about teenage pregnancy.