Education: Comment sought on draft learner pregnancy policy

A draft policy for state schools on the sensitive issue of preventing and managing learner pregnancies has been gazetted for comment. Given that the deadline for written submissions is 10 February – nearly two weeks before the draft policy was published – at this stage it is not clear how much time is available for stakeholders and members to make their input. Hopefully, writes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch, it will be long enough to develop appropriate responses to proposals in the draft for addressing a rate of learner pregnancy described as ‘a major social, systemic and fiscal challenge not only for the basic education sector, but crucially, for national development in general’. ‘Not new to the basic education system, … its scale and impact have reached the point where it requires a systemic policy and structured implementation planning’.

Against that backdrop, the draft policy is underpinned by: ‘the constitutional right of pregnant learners to continue and complete their basic education without stigma or discrimination’; and a requirement that the Department of Basic Education and its structures provide quality ‘comprehensive sexuality education’, along with access to ‘adolescent and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services’, if only by way of referral. Sexuality education should apparently include counselling where terminating a pregnancy is the preferred option of the learner concerned. ‘Specifically, (the draft policy) ... confirms that … pregnant learners … must be allowed to remain in school during their pregnancies and return as soon after giving birth as is appropriate for both the learner and her child.’

To that end, an affected school is required to ‘accommodate the reasonable needs’ of a pregnant learner, which may include short-to-medium-term absences from school, and holding a place in the system for her return to complete her basic education. ‘Expulsion or exclusion from school is not an option.’ In providing ‘reasonable guidance and direction to these learners’, among other things schools should ‘engage’ parents and communities noting: the familial and social context within which learner pregnancy occurs; options for reducing unintended and unwanted pregnancies; managing their pre and post-natal implications; limiting associated stigma and discrimination; and retaining or re-enrolling affected learners in school. This is considered ‘critical’ to implementing the proposed new policy and its ‘up-scaling’.

Noting that some learner pregnancies may have resulted from non-consensual sex/rape – as well as the complex issue of consensual sex when one party is under age, or where there is a significant age gap between the parties concerned – the draft policy draws on the department’s protocol on managing and reporting sexual violence in schools and ‘issues of gender-based violence’. The protocol includes guidance on measures to be taken where the circumstances surrounding a pregnancy give rise to an obligation to report the matter to the South African Police Service and/or the social development authorities concerned. Importantly, the draft policy provides ‘important detail’ regarding steps to be taken ‘when it is alleged that a pregnancy has occurred because of sexual intercourse between a learner and an educator’.