The reprecussions of girls dropping out of school
due to
pregnancy cannot be underestimated.
To my dismay, was shocked to discover that according
to SA Stats 2011 reports, 20 000 children who SHOULD be at school were NOT,
yet the South African Schools Act requires that children up to the age of 15
MUST attend school. A massive 48 000 children aged 16 -18 years are not attending school of which 27% of the 50 000,
citied money as the reason for not being in school.
There are 24 500 public schools in the
Republic of South Africa and about 15 300, which cater for more than 7 million pupils that do NOT charge
any school fees. As appalling as this seems, leads me to question, “Why are they not
in school then, The Department of Education has provided, why are they not taking advantage of such opportunities?”
Well, the Reasons for such behaviour from the teenagers were:
Well, the Reasons for such behaviour from the teenagers were:
·
Pregnancy
·
Violence in schools
·
Lack of transport
·
Illness
·
Family commitments
·
“I'm too busy”
·
Lack of interest,
·
and believe it or not, “Education
is useless”
Think about it: How and where do we begin to instil the importance of education taken into
consideration the presently high youth unemployment rate amongst Matric and
tertiary graduates in the country?
Do we have a chance, perhaps- to fooling them into going back to
school?
Of those kids who were in school, 6% said lack of school textbooks was 1
of their obstacles in learning which is quite a great improvement from the economies
21% rate in 2002.
The problem of teenage pregnancy amongst school girls is a major concern and is a constraint in elimination of gendered parties in education.
With teenage pregnancy being the common denominator contributing to the high level of high school drop outs amongst other reasons pertaining to lack of financial ability, violence and lack of interest in the education system, leads me to tapping into the pregnancy pandemic (so it will be if not already is) and determining solutions to best reduce the level of such in schools.
To add, condoms are available in some schools, but why then is the rate
of pregnancy not cutting down? Immediate
assumption is that, though education pertaining to life science is offered (in theory)
the young school boys do not know HOW to use the condoms.
We need to come to terms with the fact that learners ARE
having sex and
that this will NOT change.
1.
Condom dispensers
To add more condom dispensers in
schools with the highest and lowest pregnancy rates because, it is not guaranteed
that the first pregnancy is the last, The more kids they have as they themselves
are kids and unemployed, the deeper they plunder themselves into the roots of poverty
2.
Practical Life-orientated Education
Life orientation and biology (life sciences)
can teach a child so much, yet even so much
more meets imagination and anxiety to have the curiosity fulfilled. Teaching
the boys and girls how to use condoms would come in very handy.
Girls have the advantage that with
female condoms, one can wear them more than 4 hours BEFORE engaging in sexual intercourse,
which means WOMEN should too be thought how to utilise and where to find
protection. (Women condom’s are also useful to combat the level of unwanted
pregnancies resulted through rape- having a female condom on every 6 hours (due
to uncertainty of the dangers that might arise, hense some live in poor
conditions looted by rapists, also prevents contact with sexually transmitted diseases).
Easier access to birth control should
also be taken into thought.
3.
Leadership Development Programs
In the most impoverished areas in South
Africa, I noticed the lack of leadership development initiatives and peer
mentorship groups. The young girls and boys have no lucrative mentors who they
aspire to be like (besides role models they only see on the entertainment
screens -who don’t often portray corrective standards of living). Now having leadership
development programs that the children can engage in to keep them busy after school comes to great use as well
as allow schools to integrate and hold networking seminars and workshops and
conferences so children can meet, learn
and be influenced by other children from other school that they are not used
to.
4.
Keeping them busy, more sports
Keeping them busy is basically the prioritised
mandate, that leads me to encouraging more sports and participation in extra
mural activities. Come to think of it the only 2 primary sports in disadvantages
areas is Netball for the girls and soccer for the boys, with both being competitive sports, means only a selected few get
the opportunity of being in the sports group and represent the school where hundreds of others who have the desire to engage in sports (yet
lack the skill to do so - which can be enhanced easily through practise- are left
behind. Then what do they do? They keep themselves busy the best way THEY know
or think how. Which is also where substance abuse comes into play, which is on
its self a social issue amongst the youth in South Africa.
5.
Teachers need to be motivated.
Could the teachers be the ones to blame?
One could only investigate and wonder. Some teachers still teach discipline through
violence which scares the children away as previously mentioned that they list violence
as one of their primary reasons why they leave school.
Trust me, from experience and with a
family that started off as teachers and retiring after more than 20 years of
teaching though retiring still in their
early grown ages, I sure can tell you
plenty about being surrounded by children of all personalities, more
than 30 and above in a single class on a daily basis.
Teachers need to be more motivated,
inspired to wake up in the morning and
deliver a sermon on the days
subject and topic at hand. The department surely must have tried something of
such sort, but just as it is important to make education creative and fun,
teachers need to also feel the fun aspect when delivering their topics to the
children.
6.
Granting the children recognition for accomplishments
From my experience or rather
perspective, children LOVE being given recognition. Therefore influencing
teachers yet again to give children recognition and motivation will enhance the
child’s devotion on their education and ability to do better.
7.
Using Imagination to build interest in school
The use of imagination, children are
the most imaginative human species one could find on the face of this earth, especially
those younger than 10, but they then again need motivation and inspiration to imagine
and predict their future’s after all: "The way through a child’s heart is
through his mind.”
Having them engage in activities that
will stimulate their intellectual capacity and ability to think they can be; “
anything they want to be, you can be who you aspire, dream and want to be ,
proved that you give in the equal input (effort ) to get the desired output (results)”
Lastly, we have always began in the beginning by identifying a problem and through determining what
the problem is, believe finding a solution is the best and quickies t way to
change the situation for the better. And though we find solutions that do
better lives, it is also about high time we sit the children down and ask them “what
can we do for YOU”, “what do YOU want” and take it from there...
TWITTER : @zanelemabaso23
TWITTER : @zanelemabaso23