KHORIXAS - The Kunene school counselor Aini Hoaebs has made a bombshell revelation that 47 schoolgirls are pregnant in the Kunene region and the majority of pregnancies are attributed to learners engaged in unprotected skin-to-skin sex after they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Hoaebs said that pregnancies of schoolgirls must not be measured on which area recorded the highest or lowest number but should rather be treated as a “serious matter”.
The Kunene regional school counselor said the number of pregnant girls is high for the region.
The Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture has a big challenge to record figures of pregnant schoolgirls and they get the figures from the Ministry of Health and Social Services, according to Hoaebs.
“Most of the figures are from MOHSS as they do have a better system to capture as schoolgirls visit their facilities for pre-natal services,” Hoaebs told New Era.
Alpha Combined School is said to have recorded sixteen pregnancies while Braunfels Agriculture High School recorded two pregnancies. The regional school counselor said that she could not reveal figures for other schools as she did not have the information at her fingertips, at the time of the interview.
Those who impregnated schoolgirls are said to be from diverse age groups but the majority of them do not attend school and they could be workers in both the private and public sector.
Hoaebs advised that when it comes to implication of school staff impregnating pupils then it is a different issue.
Hoaebs said: “Some girls are the only hope the family has and in the case she leaves school the family’s hopes are usually dashed.” Hoaebs said despite the setback, pregnant pupils should be given full support so they could attend school shortly after they have given birth to continue with their studies.
On what parents of pregnant pupils can do, Hoaebs said that parents must advise them not to get pregnant again and help the pupil get back to school after delivery.
“Help those learners to breastfeed their babies and also advise the pupils to delay sex,” Hoaebs said.
A Grade 10 pupil at Welwitschia Junior Secondary School (WJSS) recently gave birth to a baby girl in the early hours of last Tuesday, according to Dolman Kavenda, principal at WJSS.
The Grade 10 pupil was rushed on Thursday to Windhoek after experiencing complications. Kavenda also revealed to New Era that a Grade 9 pupil is also pregnant but the matter is not officially reported due to absenteeism and failure of parents to come to school despite being requested to do so.